Biomedcode is pleased to announce that it has received national funding from the General Secretary for Research and Technology supporting the innovative research network BreastCaRANKL that combines the efforts of industrial and renowned academic partners to develop precision drug evaluation tools for the preclinical development of novel therapies for Breast Cancer.
Project summary
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer worldwide and its market is projected to grow at an annual rate of 5.8% reaching 18.2 billion euro by 2023. Consequently, there is a very strong interest from pharmaceutical companies worldwide to develop new personalized and targeted treatments, making necessary the parallel development of relevant preclinical models that will allow the reliable assessment of the new therapeutic approaches. The BreastCaRANKL project aims to develop an innovative integrated platform for the preclinical evaluation of drugs targeting breast cancer and for the in-depth study of the molecular mechanisms contributing to the initiation and progression of the disease.
Recent studies have highlighted the key role played by the RANKL protein in the formation of lactating mammary glands during pregnancy, as well as in the initiation of breast cancer supporting progesterone-induced proliferation of mammary epithelial cells. RANKL is thus emerging as a highly promising therapeutic target for the prevention and treatment of various breast cancer subtypes, including familial BRCA1-associated breast cancer. The Fleming research group has generated unique transgenic mice expressing human RANKL (TghRANKL) which are unique tools for the study of RANKL-induced pathogenic mechanisms and for the preclinical evaluation of new drugs targeting RANKL and/or downstream molecules. During the BreastCaRANKL project, the collaborating partners, based on recent high-level publications and using the unique TghRANKL transgenic mice, will develop and characterize a human RANKL-dependent breast cancer model and through the integration of cutting-edge technologies, a unique innovative humanized platform will be developed for the evaluation of anticancer drugs at the preclinical level.
The competitive advantage of the consortium lies with the expertise and experience of the participating partners -2 academic research institutions and 2 companies– allowing BreastCaRANKL to develop unique worldwide competitive products and services that are expected to lead to immediate and significant commercial and economic benefits for the participating companies but also for the national economy.
