Precision Nutrition and Aging Cancer

Molecular Oncology Group

The final aim of the Precision Nutrition and Cancer Program consists on including Precision Nutrition based on scientifi c evidence as an effi cient complementary therapeutic approach for cancer patients.

To that end, the Molecular Oncology group closely collaborates with the Clinical Oncology Group to identify biomarkers and analyze from a molecular and clinical point of view the effect of bioactive compounds and personalized strategies focused on the implementation of a Precision Nutrition that potentiates cancer treatments and promotes the quality of life of cancer patients. In this area we are currently conducting two different clinical trials, one in colon cancer patients taking a specific supplement with potencial therapeutic activity (FORCANCER), and the other one included in a multicentric study analyzing the clinical relevance of nutritional habits in breast cancer patients (MAMANUT). The product under the clinical trial of FORCANCER has been interantionally patented (PCT/ES2017/070263) with a preliminar favorable report of the european agency.

In the last few years immunotherapy has become an important part of cancer treatment. Immunotherapy is treatment that uses certain parts of a person’s immune system to fi ght cancer, i.e. stimulating your own immune system to effi ciently attack cancer cells. In this outstanding area or research, the Molecular Immunonutrition Group aims at developing immunonutritional-based precision intervention strategies to selectively modulate innate immune responses. This research group has contributed to establish physiologically-based new tools to model human diseases evaluating food safety aspects. Additionally, there were provided signifi cant patents and contributions demonstrating the potential selective modulation of innate immunity’s amplitude of signaling within the neuro-immunometabolic axis.

Finally, we have incorporated a Computational Biology Group, since this complex disease requires a multidisciplinary research including applied mathematics, statistics and computer sciences to integrate the the biological data that has been generated. Genome wide techniques have made essential to create research groups with high-specialized professionals that develop complex analytical strategies to make sense of this large amount of data. The nutrition fi eld is not stranger to these advances and new comprehensive models with a high computational load are being required to understand the complexity of the relationships between food, genes and health. Therefore, Computational Biology is essential for the future of precision and personalized nutrition strategies based on individual molecular characteristics improving the wellbeing of the inhabitants and increasing the life expectancy