CINBIO expands its research focus to include ultrarare sarcomas, with the backing of the first ‘Carolina Cerezo’ Grant awarded by Asarga

CELLCOM, a research group at CINBIO, a member of the CIGUS Network, an initiative launched by the regional government (Xunta de Galicia) that groups together centres of accredited scientific excellence, is moving into the study of ultrarare sarcomas with the first ‘Carolina Cerezo’ grant awarded by Asarga

Among the various diseases categorised as cancers, sarcomas stand out for a particular characteristic: they do not affect a specific organ but rather tissues such as muscle, cartilage, fat, bone, or connective tissue. These malignant tumours, which are a relatively uncommon type of cancer, encompass more than 70 varieties classified as ultrarare due to their low incidence, affecting approximately one person per million.

“Their occurrence data mean that these pathologies are often overlooked and therefore require greater attention from makes them poorly studied pathologies that require greater attention from researchers and public administrations,” explained María Mayán Santos, CellCOM’s principal investigator. This research group, part of CINBIO, specialises in cellular communication in cancer and age-related diseases, and tomorrow will receive the first ‘Carolina Cerezo’ grant awarded by the Association of Sarcomas Assistance Groups (Asarga by its Spanish initials).  

At an event to be held this Friday, CellCOM will accept the research grant, which will enable the group to begin work on a project aimed at increasing knowledge about lesser-known sarcomas, which in turn will enable them to identify new therapies and develop diagnostic methods. “Opening up a new research line in our group on such rare and under-researched tumours is a significant challenge. Being able to contribute our expertise is a major undertaking, and we are starting with the support of a patients’ association that is making major efforts to raise funds for research,” María Mayán stated in reference to the Asarga research grant, funded by proceeds from the sale of the book titled  El sarcoma día a día (‘Sarcoma Day by Day’). In addition to the book, the association has also produced a documentary of the same name, which will be presented this Friday at Afundación cultural centre.    

“We are more committed than ever and are eager to get down to work”, stated the head of CellCOM, who considers Asarga “an example for the administration to follow. Science is the only tool we have to deliver solutions in the form of therapies or diagnostic markers for these patients, who are often very young.” Indeed, Carolina Cerezo, a young woman from Malaga, was just 25 years old when she passed away after being diagnosed with a rare sarcoma. The Asarga grant is named after her to commemorate her struggle and the search for new treatments that could have helped her.

Drawing on years of experience in cancer research, including multiple research lines, CellCOM will use this grant to begin studying sarcomas that affect joint and bone tissues—areas in which the team has extensive expertise. “We hope to focus on the synovial sarcoma stage, one of the subtypes of Ewing sarcoma or osteosarcoma,” Mayán explained. She went on to add that “the reason we are concentrating on joint and bone sarcomas is that we have significant prior knowledge of these tissues from previous work and experience in joint diseases. We will apply that knowledge and experience to the study of sarcomas in joint and bone tissues.”