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cristina almeida

Cristina Almeida, researcher at Drug Targets and Biomarkers Lab at UCIBIO-Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Porto (FFUP), led by Natércia Teixeira, was awarded, with a scientific research grant in oncology, by the “Liga Portuguesa contra o Cancro – Núcleo Regional do Norte (LPCC-NRN)”. The project entitled “Unveiling the clinical benefit of cannabinoids as an adjuvant therapy for estrogen receptor-positive (ER +) breast cancer” focus in the most prevalent type of breast cancer and one of the main cause of cancer-related death.

 

Despite the clinical benefit of hormone therapy, as aromatase inhibitors (AIs), its major drawback is the occurrence of resistance, which leads to tumour relapse. Thus, it is important to discover new strategies to improve treatment. In the last years, cannabinoids have gained attention in the clinical setting and clinical trials in cancer patients with cannabinoid-based preparations are underway.  Considering this, in this work Cristina Almeida, supervised by Natércia Teixeira, will investigate the potential clinical benefit of cannabidiol (CBD), one of the non-psychoactive cannabinoids derived from the Cannabis sativa plant, when combined with AIs, in sensitive and resistant ER + breast cancer cells. This project intends to explore new therapeutic tools capable of improving cancer treatment and, thus, contribute to a better quality of life and well-being of patients. This work will be developed in the Biochemistry Laboratory of FFUP and in UCIBIO-REQUIMTE in the research group Drug Target and Biomarkers, and in collaboration with Cristina Amaral and Georgina Correia da Silva, also research members of the same lab.

 

Other news:

Liga Portuguesa Contra o Cancro premeia investigação da U.Porto, Notícias da Universidade do Porto