About
The Childhood Liver Oncology Group (c-LOG), is a pioneer research group dedicated to improve the survival and quality of life of children with liver cancer. Their primary focus is hepatoblastoma, a rare but aggressive cancer affecting young children. c-LOG aims to understand the causes of this disease and develop better treatments and risk stratification algorithms to reduce chemotherapy associated side effects, ultimately improving the lives of these patients. The interest of the group is also to translate the results in childhood liver cancer to the main primary liver cancer in adults, the hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
To achieve this goal, c-LOG established a comprehensive biorepository of biological samples from pediatric patients with liver cancer called CLCN (Childhood Liver Cancer Network Collection) thanks to the participation in the Pediatric Hepatic International Tumor Trial (PHITT). Besides, c-LOG collaborates with the Gastroenterology department of the Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital to collect biological specimens from adult patients with liver diseases for a more comprehensive understanding of liver cancer in general.
Keywords: Oncology, cancer, liver cancer, childhood liver cancer, hepatoblastoma.
Group leader
- Carolina Armengol Niell, PhD
Carolina Armengol Niell, PhD
Carolina Armengol has over 20 years of experience in studying childhood liver cancer. She is the head of the Childhood Liver Oncology Group (c-LOG), which she founded in 2010 at Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP), affiliated with the CIBERehd group of which she is also the leader. c-LOG is a pioneer in translational research on childhood liver cancer in Spain and is recogniSed as a reference group internationally. Her research has always focused on directly studying patient samples to better understand the disease and apply the results into clinical practice.
Contact: carmengol(ELIMINAR)@igtp.cat
ORCID: 0000-0002-4690-4027
Team
Postdoctoral fellow
María Manuela Barranco Piazza, PhD, MD(ELIMINAR)
PhD students
Andrea Michelle Castaneda Moreno(ELIMINAR)
Maria Torner Simó(ELIMINAR)
Laboratory technician
Lucia Lozano White(ELIMINAR)
Internship student
Jan Saracibar
Research lines
Consolidation of a unique European biorepository of childhood liver cancer
To establish a network to collect biological samples of paediatric patients with liver cancer with the suport of their families, paediatric oncologists, surgeons and pathologists.
Identification and validation of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers to improve quality of life and survival of patients with liver cancer
To validate assessing biomarkers in diagnostic samples from a prospective cohort of European patients enrolled in the first Paediatric Hepatic International Tumour Trial (PHITT) in order to improve the current clinical stratification and clinical management of childhood liver cancer.
To assess the same biomarkers in adult cancer and study its diagnostic and prognostic potential.
Understanding the molecular biology of childhood liver cancer
To improve the knowledge of rare and highly aggressive forms of childhood liver cancer that are resistant to current therapies and to identify biomarkers and therapeutic targets to design more effective therapies using the latest high-throughput technologies and advanced computational tools.
Moving forward precision medicine in childhood liver cancer through the identification of the best drugs for each tumour type
To test innovative therapies against different tumour subtypes using patient-derived models of childhood liver cancer such as patient-derived xenografts and patient-derived organoids.
Active projects
Tumour-host interactions in liver cancer of childhood and adults (THRIVE)
PI: Josep M. Llovet; Partner: Carolina Armengol
Funding Agency: European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA), European Commission
Duration: 01/12/2023 – 30/11/2028
More information
Hub d'innovació pediàtrica - I4KIDS
PI: St Joan de Déu; Collaborator: Carolina Armengol
Funding agency: Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR)
Agency code: 2021-XARDI-00006
Duration: 2023 – 2026
Precision medicine for hepatoblastoma: identification of novel therapies and predictive biomarkers using a unique EU biorepository (PMed4HB)
PI: Carolina Ar
Funding agency: Spanish Association Against Cancer
Agency code: PRYCO223102ARME
Duration: 01/12/2022 - 30/11/2027
Robust Learning and Reasoning for Complex Event Forecasting (EVENFLOW)
PI: NCSR; Third party: Carolina Armengol
Funding Agency: European Commission, Horizon Europe
Duration: 01/10/2022 – 30/09/2025
Translational research group in hepatic pathology and innate immunity
Funding agency: Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR)
Agency code: 2021-SGR-01186
Identification of predictive Biomarkers and novel biology-driven Therapies for Childhood Liver Cancer patients using a unique EU biorepository (BT4ChildLC)
PI: Carolina Armengol
Funding agency: Fight Kids Cancer Program, European Science Foundation
Duration: 2023 – 2025
Dissecting the role of the 14q32 region in hepatoblastoma (Hblast14)
PI: P Sancho-Bru; Partner: Carolina Armengol
Funding Agency: Worldwide Cancer Research
Duration: 01/04/2023 - 31/03/2026
Providing cutting edge cancer research services across Europe (CanSERV)
PI: EATRIS; Third party: Carolina Armengol
Funding Agency: European Commission, Horizon Europe
Duration: 2022 – 2025
Targeting choline metabolism in high-risk hepatoblastoma with a novel release-controlled drug
PI: Carolina Ar
Funding agency: AGAUR (LLAVOR program)
Agency code: ChilD (2024 LLAV 00109)
Duration: 2024 – 2025
Past projects
Individualized Pediatric Cure, iPC
Funding agency: H2020 Grant Agreement
Agency code: 826121
Duration: 2019 - 2023
Proteomic profiling of tumors from poor-prognosis childhood liver cancer patients
Recipient: Álvaro del Rio Alvarez
Funding agency: FI-AGAUR
Agency code: 2021FI_B 00528
Duration: 01/04/2022 - 31/03/2025
Identificación de dianas moleculares para terapias innovadoras del hepatoblastoma
PI: Carolina Armengol
Funding agency: Center for Biomedical Network Research (CIBER)
Duration: 01/04/2022-31/3/2024
Scientific publications
Highlighted publications
Carrillo-Reixach J, Torrens L, Simon-Coma M, Royo L, Domingo-Sàbat M, Abril-Fornaguera J, Akers N, Sala M, Ragull S, Arnal M, Villalmanzo N, Cairo S, Villanueva A, Kappler R, Garrido M, Guerra L, Sábado C, Guillén G, Mallo M, Piñeyro D, Vázquez-Vitali M, Kuchuk O, Mateos ME, Ramírez G, Santamaría ML, Mozo Y, Soriano A, Grotzer M, Branchereau S, de Andoin NG, López-Ibor B, López-Almaraz R, Salinas JA, Torres B, Hernández F, Uriz JJ, Fabre M, Blanco J, Paris C, Bajčiová V, Laureys G, Masnou H, Clos A, Belendez C, Guettier C, Sumoy L, Planas R, Jordà M, Nonell L, Czauderna P, Morland B, Sia D, Losic B, Buendia MA, Sarrias MR, Llovet JM, Armengol C. Epigenetic footprint enables molecular risk stratification of hepatoblastoma with clinical implications. J Hepatol. 2020 Aug;73(2):328-341. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhep.2020.03.025.
Fang J, Singh S, Cheng C, Natarajan S, Sheppard H, Abu-Zaid A, Durbin AD, Lee HW, Wu Q, Steele J, Connelly JP, Jin H, Chen W, Fan Y, Pruett-Miller SM, Rehg JE, Koo SC, Santiago T, Emmons J, Cairo S, Wang R, Glazer ES, Murphy AJ, Chen T, Davidoff AM, Armengol C, Easton J, Chen X, Yang J et al. Genome-wide mapping of cancer dependency genes and genetic modifiers of chemotherapy in high-risk hepatoblastoma. Nat Commun. 2023 Jul 6; 14(1):4003. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39717-6.
Mario Failli, Salih Demir, Álvaro Del Río-Álvarez; Juan Carrillo-Reixach; Laura Royo, Montserrat Domingo-Sàbat, Margaret Childs, Rudolf Maibach, Rita Alaggio, Piotr Czauderna, Bruce Morland, Roland Kappler, Carolina Armengol, Diego di Bernardo. Computational drug prediction in hepatoblastoma by integrating pan-cancer transcriptomics with pharmacological response. Hepatology, Hepatology. 2023 Sep 20. DOI: 10.1097/HEP.0000000000000601. *co-corresponding
Alex Clavería-Cabello, Jose Maria Herranz, Maria Ujue Latasa, Maria Arechederra, Iker Uriarte, Antonio Pineda-Lucena, Felipe Prosper, Pedro Berraondo, Cristina Alonso, Bruno Sangro, Jose Juan García Marin, Maria Luz Martinez-Chantar, Sergio Ciordia, Fernando José Corrales, Paola Francalanci, Rita Alaggio, Jessica Zucman-Rossi, Emilie Indersie, Stefano Cairo, Montserrat Domingo-Sàbat, Laura Zanatto, Pau Sancho-Bru, Carolina Armengol, Carmen Berasain, Maite García Fernandez-Barrena, Matias Antonio Avila. Identification and experimental validation of druggable epigenetic targets in hepatoblastoma. J Hepatol. 2023 Jun 9:S0168-8278(23)00405-1. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhep.2023.05.031.
Abril-Fornaguera J, Torrens L, Andreu-Oller C, Carrillo-Reixach J, Rialdi A, Balaseviciute U, Pinyol R, Montironi C, Haber PK, Del Río-Álvarez Á, Domingo-Sàbat M, Royo L, Akers NK, Willoughby CE, Peix J, Torres-Martin M, Puigvehi M, Cairo S, Childs M, Maibach R, Alaggio R, Czauderna P, Morland B, Losic B, Mazzaferro V, Guccione E, Sia D, Armengol C*, Llovet JM. Identification of IGF2 as Genomic Driver and Actionable Therapeutic Target in Hepatoblastoma. Mol Cancer Ther. 2023 Feb 10:MCT-22-0335. DOI: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-22-0335. *co-last author
Additional information
Collaborative networks
SIOPEL: International Childhood Liver Tumors Strategy Group.
Doctoral theses
Title: Towards precision medicine in pediatric liver cancer: discovery and validation of prognostic biomarkers
Author: Juan Carrillo Reixach
Supervisors: Carolina Armengol Niell i Carlos Julian Ciudad Gomez
University: Universitat de Barcelona
Date of defence: 19/12/2022
Outreach
"The Little Scientist" is a small tale written and illustrated to learn about the important role of children with liver cancer in c-LOG's research. It is meant for families and patients with liver cancer. Translations into Spanish, Catalan, French and Polish are on their way!
In case you are interested in the dissemination activites of the c-LOG team including meetings with families of children with liver cancer and parent's associations, please contact us!
News
Can Ruti reaffirms its commitment to rare diseases in an interdisciplinary event
On Friday 28 February, HUGTiP and IGTP held a new edition of their event to mark Rare Disease Day. The event brought together healthcare professionals and researchers to share knowledge and experiences in the field. The program also included the patient perspective in the final part of the event.
IGTP receives seven grants from the Knowledge Industry program for innovative projects
The 2024 call for Knowledge Industry grants by AGAUR has awarded €528,000 to seven projects from IGTP. The grants will enhance the valorisation and transfer of these innovative projects.
Contact
(+34) 93 554 30 72
More links
Follow @cLOG_Lab on X · Donate via Amics de Can Ruti · PMed4HB project website · Follow c-LOG on LinkedIn · Follow @THRIVE_LiverCan on X