The world’s most influential study in biology according to the latest ranking list of Science Watch corresponding to November and December is signed by researchers from IDIBELL, ICO and UB; all three entities are in Biopol’H area.

The coordinator of the research is Oriol Casanovas – researcher of the tumor angiogenesis group of IDIBELL and ICO - and the first signer, Marta Páez Ribes – IDIBELL pre-doctoral researcher. It has also had the collaboration of Douglas Hanahan – researcher at the University of California, San Francisco - and Francesc Viñals - researcher from IDIBELL and UB.

The article – “Antiangiogenic therapy elicits malignant progression of tumors to increased local invasion and distant metastasis” – deals with the effects of antiangiogenic therapy on the progression and dissemination of tumours and it was published in Cancer Cell in March 2009. Since its publication, it has had 226 quotes, 46 during May and June, which is the period that has been analyzed by the agency Thomson Reuters in order to develop its classification of November and December.    

The study has proved in experiments with mice that angiogenic drugs initially reduce your number of tumour cells, but thereafter they do not prevent cancer from spreading rapidly to other organs and tissues. Specifically, the malignant cells which have survived the blockade of angiogenesis are able to tolerate the lack of oxygen and so they activate mechanisms that help them spread to other tissues through the normal bloodstream.  Furthermore, they are more resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. This finding may make it possible to discover new treatment strategies.