Guadalupe Cabral, researcher of the Center for Chronic Disease Studies (CEDOC) of the NOVA Medical School|Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, NOVA University Lisbon, was the winner of the Pfizer 2019 Clinical Research Award with a work in the area of breast cancer. one of the leading causes of cancer death in young women.
The research, resulting from a collaboration between CEDOC-NMS|FCM with the CUF Institute of Oncology under TagusTANK, a consortium of José de Mello Saúde/CUF with the NOVA University of Lisbon, has identified a predictive marker of response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in women with breast cancer.
Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death in the female population. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (QNA) is the usual treatment for locally advanced breast cancer, although many patients do not respond to this therapy. Thus, it is urgent to find predictive markers of response to this conventional treatment and to establish alternative, more personalized therapies.
According to Guadalupe Cabral "The implementation of this marker in clinical practice can help to decide whether the patient will benefit from conventional treatment or should be promptly directed to an alternative treatment that is more likely to succeed."
The Pfizer 2019 - Basic Research Prize was awarded to João Peça, from the Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology (CNC) and professor at the Department of Life Sciences, FCT, University of Coimbra, for an autism research. This was the 63rd edition of the Pfizer Awards - the oldest award in the field of biomedical research awarded in Portugal, with the aim of contributing to the promotion of health science research in our country.