Paediatric Cancer Treatment
Research Program
Leaders
Where we are
SJD Barcelona Children's Hospital
Related websites
Paediatric cancer affects over 1000 children in Spain each year, 80% of whom survive more than 5 years after treatment. There are, however, still some paediatric cancers that are incurable.
Our work focuses on experimentally addressing this urgent clinical need in patients with the worst prognosis. We carry out laboratory (preclinical) projects based on small tumour samples (biopsies) from these patients which we use to create laboratory models that are then used in experimental studies for new treatments. These new treatments are developed by our research group and/or our collaborators.
Thanks to these preclinical research projects, we are currently conducting phase 1 clinical trials in the paediatric population with retinal and brain cancer.
Our research on retinoblastoma (retinal cancer) virotherapy is well known and is already being applied in children with promising results. We were extremely excited to receive the Schweisguth Prize from SIOP (Société Internationale d'Oncologie Pédiatrique) and the Vanguàrdia Science Award for this work.
Our scientific output is diverse. The results of our studies have been published in various prestigious journals in the fields of translational medicine, pharmaceutical sciences and bioengineering (e.g., Science Translational Medicine, Biomaterials, Journal of Controlled Release, Advanced Healthcare Materials) and we have participated in publications in the most prestigious scientific sources (Science, Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Genetics, Cancer Cell, JEM, Nature Communications, Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research).
The main objectives of our research programme are:
1. To establish a platform for preclinical paediatric solid tumour models.
2. To conduct preclinical translational research on the efficacy of new therapeutic candidates.
3. To develop new drug delivery systems tailored to our patients.
4. To characterise how medicines are distributed in the body in order to fully understand their therapeutic effect
Research lines
- Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) and cerebral gliomatosis: pharmacological therapy and immunotherapy.
- Retinoblastoma: advanced therapy with oncolytic adenoviruses.
- Extracranial solid tumours: selective therapies with new drug delivery systems.
- Solid tumours with poor prognosis in relapse: precision therapies.
- Blood-brain barrier: possible pharmacological strategies to cross it.
Scientific objectives
- To develop pharmacological treatments for DIPG, cerebral gliomatosis and other paediatric brain tumours with poor prognosis.
- To develop drug delivery systems in paediatric oncology, with a better profile of tumour selectivity, greater efficacy and lower toxicity.
- To develop innovative pharmacological treatments for extracranial solid paediatric tumours such as Ewing's sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, osteosarcoma and neuroblastoma.
- To develop treatments for retinoblastoma based on the combination of oncolytic adenoviruses and chemotherapy.
- To develop immunotherapy treatments for DIPG and other brain tumours.
Area/Field of expertise
We have expertise in the following areas:
- Development of cell models and patient-derived xenografts (PDX) of paediatric solid tumours (retinoblastoma, neuroblastoma, DIPG, high-grade gliomas, medulloblastoma, AT-RT, rhabdomyosarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma, osteosarcoma, Wilms' tumour, germ cell tumours, malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumours) from biobank samples.
- Efficacy tests of anticancer agents used to treat paediatric solid tumours.
- Pharmacokinetic assays of anticancer agents in the central nervous system and in paediatric solid tumours.
- Biological sampling by microdialysis and analysis by high-resolution liquid chromatography (HPLC).
- Development of biopolymer drug delivery systems for paediatric solid tumours.

Group members
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Jefe de Grupo Senior
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Investigador pre-doc
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Investigador pre-doc
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Investigador colaborador
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Investigador colaborador
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Investigador colaborador
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Ayudante de investigación
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Ayudante de investigación
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Ayudante de investigación
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Técnico
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Investigador pre-doc
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Francisco Javier Vicario La Torre
Ayudante de investigación
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Investigador post-doc
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Técnico
Last Publications
- Gonçalves-Alves EC, Garcia-López M, Gomez-Gonzalez S, Ecker RC, Suñol M, Muñoz-Aznar O, Carcaboso AM, Mora J, Lavarino C and Mateo-Lozano S AC-265347 Inhibits Neuroblastoma Tumor Growth by Induction of Differentiation without Causing Hypocalcemia. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES . 23(8): 4323.
- Schaiquevich P, Francis JH, Cancela MB, Carcaboso AM, Chantada G and Abramson DH Treatment of Retinoblastoma: What Is the Latest and What Is the Future. Frontiers in oncology . 12: 822330-822330.
- Matthay KK, Hylton J, Penumarthy N, Khattab M, Soh SY, Nguyen HTK, Alcasabas AP, Fawzy M, Saab R, Khan MS, Ghandour K, Chantada G, Parikh NS, Faulkner L, Lam CG and Howard SC Global Neuroblastoma Network: An international multidisciplinary neuroblastoma tumor board for resource-limited countries. PEDIATRIC BLOOD & CANCER . 69(4): .
Projects
- Project name:
- Immune microenvironment of retinoblastoma
- Leader
- Angel Montero Carcaboso
- Funding entities:
- Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
- Code
- PI21/00216
- Starting - finishing date:
- 2022 - 2024
- Project name:
- Desenvolupament preclínic del fàrmac G2B-001 i aplicació en el tractament de tumors sòlids pediàtrics
- Leader
- Angel Montero Carcaboso
- Funding entities:
- Agaur - Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca
- Code
- 2021 DI 008
- Starting - finishing date:
- 2021 - 2024
- Project name:
- Rompiendo las barreras del cáncer infantil
- Leader
- Angel Montero Carcaboso
- Funding entities:
- Ibercaja Gestión S.G.I.I.C. S.A.
- Code
- PCP00335
- Starting - finishing date:
- 2021 - 2022
Theses
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Development and application of xenograft models to predict the prognosis and study the treatment-driven evolution of pediatric sarcomas
- Author
- Castillo Ecija, Helena
- Institution
- UNIVERSIDAD DE BARCELONA
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Polymeric nanocarriers modified with peptide shuttles for drug targeting to the
central nervous system
- Institution
- Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
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Estudio de la toxicidad local y sistémica de matrices de nanofibras cargadas con SN-38 en rata Wistar.
- Author
- Manzanares Quintela, Alejandro
- Institution
- UNIVERSIDAD DE BARCELONA
News
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A nanomedicine to improve treatment of Ewing sarcoma
A team led by Dr. Ángel Montero Carcaboso at the Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu (IRSJD) shows that albumin nanoparticles improve the biopharmaceutical properties of paclitaxel in a rare type of tumor called Ewing sarcoma. The publication is highlighted on today's cover of the Journal of Controlled Release.
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Gate2Brain receives funding from ”la Caixa” Foundation to accelerate its transfer to the market and society
Gate2Brain, a spin-off of Sant Joan de Déu (SJD), Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) Barcelona and University of Barcelona (UB) will develop a new drug using a shuttle peptide that crosses the blood-brain barrier (BBB) to improve treatments for pediatric brain cancer.
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Two subtypes of retinoblastoma identified
Researchers from the Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu have collaborated in a study, published in Nature Communications, which has identified two subtypes of molecular retinoblastoma with different genomic, clinical and pathological features.