Where Ideas Grow
Joana Paredes
Group leader

Joana Paredes (JParedes) is the group leader of the Cancer Metastasis group at i3S and Affiliated Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto. Currently, she is also the President of the Portuguese Association for Cancer Research (ASPIC).

JParedes graduated in Biology at Coimbra University in 1999 and completed her PhD at the Faculty of Medicine of Porto University in 2004. For 2 years, she worked in the Cancer Research Laboratory of Gent University (Belgium), a reference lab in cell-cell adhesion and cancer. 

Throughout JParedes’ scientific research career, she has been always committed to understand how cell-cell adhesion signaling regulates collective cell invasion, metabolic behavior and stem cell properties of cancer cells, supporting the use of adhesion molecules as prognostic and predictive biomarkers in cancer. As Principal Investigator, her research focus is to challenge the dogma that cell-cell adhesion needs to be lost for cancer cells to invade and metastasize. Using breast cancer as a model, she demonstrated that cell-cell adhesion mediated by P-cadherin provides invasive and stem-like properties to cancer cells. Recently, she showed that P-cadherin expression can be induced by hypoxia, which then activates the pentose phosphate pathway and decreases oxidative stress in matrix-detached breast cancer cells. These results led her to believe that cell-cell adhesion award plasticity and a survival advantage to cancer cells while in circulation, being determinant for an increased metastatic behavior.

JParedes has published 81 articles in international peer-reviewed journals and 4 book chapters. These manuscripts have gathered more than 3200 citations by peers, endowing her an h-index of 36. She already coordinated 14 and participated in 11 research projects and already acted as a reviewer of post-doc and PhD fellowships, as well as of scientific projects, for national and international agencies. As a mentor, JParedes has already supervised or co-supervised 8 PhD students and 17 MSc students.

Selected Publications

Pinto M.T., Ribeiro A.S., Conde I., Carvalho R., Paredes J.,
The chick chorioallantoic membrane model: A new in vivo tool to evaluate breast cancer stem cell activity. International Journal of Molecular Sciences22(1):1-15, 2021. [Journal: Article] [CI: 17] [IF: 6,2]
DOI: 10.3390/ijms22010334 SCOPUS: 85098853386.


Dionísio M.R., Vieira A.F., Carvalho R., Conde I., Oliveira M., Gomes M., Pinto M.T., Pereira P., Pimentel J., Souza C., Marques M.M.C., Duval da Silva V., Barroso A., Preto D., Cameselle-Teijeiro J.F., Schmitt F., Ribeiro A.S., Paredes J.,
BR-BCSC Signature: The Cancer Stem Cell Profile Enriched in Brain Metastases that Predicts a Worse Prognosis in Lymph Node-Positive Breast Cancer. Cells9(11):, 2020. [Journal: Article] [CI: 9] [IF: 6,6]
DOI: 10.3390/cells9112442 SCOPUS: 85096082267.


Sousa B., Pereira J., Marques R., Grilo L.F., Pereira S.P., Sardão V.A., Schmitt F., Oliveira P.J., Paredes J.,
P-cadherin induces anoikis-resistance of matrix-detached breast cancer cells by promoting pentose phosphate pathway and decreasing oxidative stress. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Molecular Basis of Disease1866(12):, 2020. [Journal: Article] [CI: 16] [IF: 5,2]
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2020.165964 SCOPUS: 85091566236.


Carvalho R., Paredes J., Ribeiro A.S.,
Impact of breast cancer cells´ secretome on the brain metastatic niche remodeling. Seminars in Cancer Biology60:294-301, 2020. [Journal: Review] [CI: 18] [IF: 15,7]
DOI: 10.1016/j.semcancer.2019.10.011 SCOPUS: 85075353035.


Sousa B., Pereira J., Paredes J.,
The crosstalk between cell adhesion and cancer metabolism. International Journal of Molecular Sciences20(8):, 2019. [Journal: Review] [CI: 58] [IF: 4,6]
DOI: 10.3390/ijms20081933 SCOPUS: 85065116094.


Ribeiro A.S., Nobre A.R., Mendes N., Almeida J., Vieira A.F., Sousa B., Carvalho F.A., Monteiro J., Polónia A., Fonseca M., Sanches J.M., Santos N.C., Seruca R., Paredes J.,
SRC inhibition prevents P-cadherin mediated signaling and function in basal-like breast cancer cells. Cell communication and signaling : CCS16(1):, 2018. [Journal: Article] [CI: 14] [IF: 5,1]
DOI: 10.1186/s12964-018-0286-2 SCOPUS: 85056432555.


Vieira A.F., DIonísio M.R., Gomes M., Cameselle-Teijeiro J.F., Lacerda M., Amendoeira I., Schmitt F., Paredes J.,
P-cadherin: A useful biomarker for axillary-based breast cancer decisions in the clinical practice. Modern pathology : an official journal of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, Inc30(5):698-709, 2017. [Journal: Article] [CI: 14] [IF: 6,7]
DOI: 10.1038/modpathol.2016.232 SCOPUS: 85010868663.


Ribeiro A.S., Carvalho F.A., Figueiredo J., Carvalho R., Mestre T., Monteiro J., Guedes A.F., Fonseca M., Sanches J., Seruca R., Santos N.C., Paredes J.,
Atomic force microscopy and graph analysis to study the P-cadherin/SFK mechanotransduction signalling in breast cancer cells. Nanoscale8(46):19390-19401, 2016. [Journal: Article] [CI: 14] [IF: 7,4]
DOI: 10.1039/c6nr04465d SCOPUS: 84998881935.


Vieira A.F., Paredes J.,
P-cadherin and the journey to cancer metastasis. Molecular Cancer14(1):, 2015. [Journal: Review] [CI: 105] [IF: 5,9]
DOI: 10.1186/s12943-015-0448-4 SCOPUS: 84943426968.


Sousa B., Ribeiro A.S., Nobre A.R., Lopes N., Martins D., Pinheiro C., Vieira A.F., Albergaria A., Gerhard R., Schmitt F., Baltazar F., Paredes J.,
The basal epithelial marker P-cadherin associates with breast cancer cell populations harboring a glycolytic and acid-resistant phenotype. BMC Cancer14(1):, 2014. [Journal: Article] [CI: 22] [IF: 3,4]
DOI: 10.1186/1471-2407-14-734 SCOPUS: 84908094892.


Vieira A.F., Ribeiro A.S., Dionísio M.R., Sousa B., Nobre A.R., Albergaria A., Santiago-Gómez A., Mendes N., Gerhard R., Schmitt F., Clarke R.B., Paredes J.,
P-cadherin signals through the laminin receptor a6ß4 integrin to induce stem cell and invasive properties to basal-like breast cancer cells. Oncotarget5(3):679-692, 2014. [Journal: Article] [CI: 45] [IF: 6,4]
DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.1459 SCOPUS: 84896821980.


Ribeiro A.S., Sousa B., Carreto L., Mendes N., Nobre A.R., Ricardo S., Albergaria A., Cameselle-Teijeiro J.F., Gerhard R., Söderberg O., Seruca R., Santos M.A., Schmitt F., Paredes J.,
P-cadherin functional role is dependent on E-cadherin cellular context: A proof of concept using the breast cancer model. Journal of Pathology229(5):705-718, 2013. [Journal: Article] [CI: 65] [IF: 7,3]
DOI: 10.1002/path.4143 SCOPUS: 84875054847.


Vieira A.F., Ricardo S., Ablett M.P., Dionísio M.R., Mendes N., Albergaria A., Farnie G., Gerhard R., Cameselle-Teijeiro J.F., Seruca R., Schmitt F., Clarke R.B., Paredes J.,
P-cadherin is coexpressed with CD44 and CD49f and mediates stem cell properties in basal-like breast cancer. Stem Cells30(5):854-864, 2012. [Journal: Article] [CI: 60] [IF: 7,7]
DOI: 10.1002/stem.1075 SCOPUS: 84860499799.


Paredes J., Figueiredo J., Albergaria A., Oliveira P., Carvalho J., Ribeiro A.S., Caldeira J., Costa A.M., Simões-Correia J., Oliveira M.J., Pinheiro H., Pinho S.S., Mateus R., Reis C.A., Leite M., Fernandes M.S., Schmitt F., Carneiro F., Figueiredo C., Oliveira C., Seruca R.,
Epithelial E- and P-cadherins: Role and clinical significance in cancer. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Reviews on Cancer1826(2):297-311, 2012. [Journal: Review] [CI: 175] [IF: 9]
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbcan.2012.05.002 SCOPUS: 84861800037.


Ribeiro A.S., Albergaria A., Sousa B., Correia A.L., Bracke M., Seruca R., Schmitt F.C., Paredes J.,
Extracellular cleavage and shedding of P-cadherin: A mechanism underlying the invasive behaviour of breast cancer cells. Oncogene29(3):392-402, 2010. [Journal: Article] [CI: 95] [IF: 7,4]
DOI: 10.1038/onc.2009.338 SCOPUS: 75149183984.


Paredes J., Albergaria A., Oliveira J.T., Jeronimo C., Milanezi F., Schmitt F.C.,
P-cadherin overexpression is an indicator of clinical outcome in invasive breast carcinomas and is associated with CDH3 promoter hypomethylation. Clinical Cancer Research11(16):5869-5877, 2005. [Journal: Article] [CI: 211] [IF: 5,7]
DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-05-0059 SCOPUS: 23844489449.


Paredes J., Stove C., Stove V., Milanezi F., Van Marck V., Derycke L., Mareel M., Bracke M., Schmitt F.,
P-cadherin is up-regulated by the antiestrogen ICI 182,780 and promotes invasion of human breast cancer cells. Cancer Research64(22):8309-8317, 2004. [Journal: Article] [CI: 62] [IF: 7,7]
DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-04-0795 SCOPUS: 8544229187.