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Elena Castro, a clinical researcher in the Prostate Cancer and Genitourinary Tumours Clinical Research Unit at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), has been honoured with the Juan Letona Award in Traslational Medicine, organised by the Hospital de Madrid Foundation.
The award, now in its Xth edition, recognises the research published last year by Castro in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. In collaboration with researchers from the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation in the United Kingdom, Castro demonstrated that germline mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes -especially in the latter not only confer a higher risk of developing prostate cancer but are also associated with an increased risk of metastatic disease progression and worse prognosis ( First hereditary factor with a prognostic role in prostate cancer).
These results describe the first genetic heritable prognostic factor that is associated with lethal forms of prostate cancer, and constitute a clinical model for studying mechanisms of prostate cancer aggressiveness. These findings may have implications in everyday clinical practice, in terms of early diagnosis, treatment and cancer follow-up.
The award ceremony, which was held at the University HM Sanchinarro on Wednesday, June 25, was chaired by the Minister of Health of the Community of Madrid, Francisco Javier Rodríguez Rodríguez. The event was also attended by the Deputy Minister of Health, Belen Prado; the President of the Hospital de Madrid Foundation, Alfonso Moreno; the Chancellor of CEU San Pablo University, Juan Carlos Domínguez Nafría; and General Director of HM Hospitals, Juan Abarca Cidón.