Octavio Frias Award: winners highlight visibility – 04/16/2023 – Health

It is with pride that scientists Ana Maria Moro, Dirce Maria Carraro and José Barreto Carvalheira, winners of the Octavio Frias de Oliveira Award, talk about their research. Each new sentence reveals how they like to investigate the mechanisms behind the emergence and progression of different types of cancer.

They also do not hide that the work is hard. There is a lack of resources and visibility for oncology studies carried out in the country and that is why, say the researchers, the laurel is important.

Promoted by Icesp (São Paulo State Cancer Institute Octavio Frias de Oliveira) in partnership with Grupo Folha, the award was created in 2010 and honors Octavio Frias de Oliveira, publisher of Sheet died in 2007. Registration for the 14th edition is open and can be done until May 26 at www.premiooctaviofrias.com.br.

“The award certainly increases visibility both in the scientific sphere, with peers, and is an opportunity to reach other layers of society”, evaluates Carraro, winner in the Oncology Research category in the 2015 edition.

The study coordinated by Carraro, principal investigator of the Clinical and Functional Genomics group at the AC Camargo Cancer Center, was published in the journal Nature Communications and revealed how a recurrent mutation in the DROSHA gene was linked to Wilms’ tumor, the most common type of kidney cancer common in childhood.

“We knew that there was an international group that was also working on this and we rushed to be the first to publish the findings, making a profound characterization. Receiving the award was like sealing this effort”, he recalls.

Ana Maria Moro, director of the Center for Research and Development of Immunobiologicals and the Laboratory of Biopharmaceuticals at the Butantan Institute, won the award in 2014, in the category Technological Innovation in Oncology.

At the time, she coordinated a group of scientists working to identify and develop antibody strains capable of binding to specific tumor proteins. The binding marks the malignant cells, contributing to the action of the immune system and the destruction of the tumor cell, and the first results, published in the journal Plos One, were promising.

“It was an immense joy to have the work recognized and that year Dr. Angelita Gama also received the award. [uma das cientistas mais influentes do mundo]. Being there with her was a huge emotion”, he says. “There is a financial value, but the intellectual incentive, the stimulus to do more, is immense.”

Named Rebmab 200, the monoclonal antibody developed by the team showed great affinity for ovarian tumors and was licensed by the company Recepta Biopharma, a partner in the initiative along with Fapesp and Finep, to the American Mersana Therapeutics. Today, it is evaluated in three different programs, one of which is looking for volunteers for phase three clinical trials.

“It was the first time that this was done in Brazil, creating a cell lineage with scaling conditions and therapeutic potential”, says Moro. “And Mersana was interested in doing what is called ADC, that is, linking a drug to an antibody to potentiate the clinical action.”

The joy of seeing the continuity of studies with the antibody is only not greater because, along the way, references to national efforts were omitted. A small asterisk on the Mersana website reminds us that the lineage came from Recepta and the new research no longer mentions the members of the Butantan team. “The origin of this antibody is lost now, it does not appear”, he laments.

Professor at Unicamp’s Faculty of Medical Sciences, José Barreto Carvalheira also demonstrates a mixture of satisfaction and frustration.

In the first award-winning research, in 2011, his group showed how metformin, a drug used to treat type 2 diabetes, could be associated with chemotherapy to prevent the multiplication of tumor cells.

The work made the cover of the journal Clinical Cancer Research and advanced to clinical trials. The latest publication, released in the British Journal of Cancer in 2021, points to the possibility of controlling refractory colorectal cancer from the combination of metformin and irinotecan.

“We didn’t advance to phase three due to lack of financial resources. We went to phase two, we published the result, which shows effects similar to those of drugs that are much more expensive, but we don’t have the structure to continue”, he says. “The scientific part of oncology needs to be disclosed. There is still a lot to be done in this regard and the award has the merit of being part of this story.”