Childhood liver oncology (c-LOG)
Carolina Armengol
The Childhood Liver Oncology Group (c-LOG) is a pioneering group focused on research intoa paediatric liver cancer in Spain. Our main goals are to increase the molecular knowledge of hepatoblastoma, the main liver cancer in children and an extremely rare disease, in order to understand why these tumours arise in children and then to identify biomarkers and therapeutic targets to improve quality of life and survival of patients with primary liver cancer, including hepatocellular carcinoma (the main liver cancer in adults).
Research lines
In order to boost translational research into childhood liver cancer, in 2010 we created the first national collection of biospecimens from patients with liver cancer called CLCN, (ISCIII National Biobank Registry, collection section, ref. C.0000226). The collection also includes samples from adult patients diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma, cirrhosis and chronic hepatitis. This has been possible thanks to our participation within the PHITT Trial and collaborations with more than 70 European hospitals, including the Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital.
The CLCN collection is the basis of our 3 main research lines
Research line 1. Understanding the molecular biology of childhood liver cancer using the latest high-throughput technologies (i.e. RNA-sequencing, proteomic profiling, methylation array, whole genome sequencing) and computational tools. One of our main interests is to improve the knowledge of rare and highly aggressive forms of childhood liver cancer that are resistant to current therapies to design innovative therapies.
PI: C. Armengol
Research line 2. Identification and validation of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers to improve the clinical management of childhood liver cancer using diagnostic tissue and blood samples obtained from European patients enrolled in the Paediatric Hepatic International Tumour Trial.
PI: C. Armengol
Research line 3. Establishing new experimental models of childhood liver cancer (i.e. patient-derived xenografts, patient-derived organoids) to test innovative therapies against tumour cells.
PI: C. Armengol
Acknowledgements
Title: Molecular analysis of hepatoblastoma: transcriptomic, genomic and methylomic study
Recipient: Juan Carillo Reixach
Code: 2019 FI_B 01024
Start Date: 01/04/2019
End Date: 31/03/2022
European Social Funds – Investing in Jobs and Skills
Title: Understanding hepatoblastoma to design new personalized treatments
PI: Pau Sancho
Agency code: PI046093
Start date: 1/12/2019
End date: 30/11/2022
Title: Recerca Translacional en patología hepàtica i immunitat innata
PI: Carolina Armengol
Agency code: 2017 SGR490
Start date: 1/1/2018
End date: 31/12/2021
Outreach by the group
For families and patients with liver cancer: please download "The Little Scientist" a book written and illustrated to explain the important role of the children with liver cancer in our research. It is in the process of being translated into Spanish, Catalan, French and Polish!
Each December the cLOG team schedule a meeting with the families of the children with liver cancer and parent's associations to keep them up to date with our research and obtain their feedback.
You can follow us on twitter at @cLOG_Lab
News
Promising new treatment for childhood liver cancer
A preclinical study with support from the Spanish Association Against Cancer has identified a potential treatment approach for patients with hepatoblastoma, which involves combining standard chemotherapy with a drug currently undergoing clinical trials. The research was conducted using patient samples and animal and laboratory models, and has been led by Dr Josep M. Llovet, professor at the UB and group leader at IDIBAPS, and Dr Carolina Armengol, group leader at IGTP and member of CIBEREHD.
Women’s Day: giving our women scientists a voice
To commemorate International Women's Day, we asked four questions to different profiles of IGTP researchers to find out about the difficulties they have encountered as women scientists and how they see the future: Dr Carolina Armengol, leader of the consolidated Childhood Liver Oncology Research Group (c-LOG), Dr Raquel Guillamat, junior leader of the emerging group Translational Research in Pulmonary Immunity, and PhD student Daina Martínez from the ICREC laboratory of Cardiology Research.
More information
Contact
Carolina Armengol, PhD
(+34) 93 554 30 72