About
The endocrine system is a network of glands that secrete hormones, which influence almost every cell, organ and function of our body; therefore, its dysregulation can lead to severe symptoms. Endocrine disorders can be caused by a tumour in a gland. Interestingly, the spectrum of endocrine tumours covers the full range of phenotypes from indolent and benign to the worst human cancer forms.
The Endocrine Tumours Group is a translational research group dedicated to study the molecular landscape of endocrine tumours, with a long-standing interest in DNA methylation. The research is mainly focused on thyroid cancer and pituitary tumours. The group aims to better understand the mechanisms of progression and resistance to treatment of these tumours to advance the discovery of biomarkers and drug targets. The ultimate goal is the development of personalised medicine that improves treatment decision-making and patient outcomes.
The group is actively engaged in a wide range of patient-based research projects in collaboration with endocrinologists, pathologists, oncologists and surgeons.
Keywords: thyroid cancer, pituitary tumours, epigenetics, DNA methylation, cancer progression, biomarkers, resistance to therapy, personalised medicine.
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Group leader
- Mireia Jordà
Mireia Jordà
Mireia Jordà has a long and solid experience in the fields of cancer and epigenetics. In 2005, she obtained her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. She worked under the supervision of Dr Àngels Fabra at Institut de Recerca Oncològica (IRO) studying the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms underlying the epithelial-mesenchymal transition. In 2006, she joined the laboratory of Dr Miguel A. Peinado as a postdoctoral researcher, first at the Institute of Biomedical Research of Bellvitge (IDIBELL) and from 2008 at Institute of Predictive and Personalized Medicine (IMPPC). During her postdoctoral period, she focused on the epigenetics of repeat DNA in cancer and cell differentiation, and acquired extensive expertise in the development of techniques to analyse DNA methylation. This allowed her to participate in a collaborative project with the Honey Bee Genome Sequencing Consortium, the results of which were published in Science and Nature. In 2014, she started her own research line as an associate researcher, and since 2017 she leads the Endocrine Tumours group at Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP). She combines her expertise in transcriptional regulation, epigenetics, repeat DNA and cancer to better understand the molecular pathogenesis of the progression and therapy resistance of endocrine tumours, in particular from the thyroid and pituitary glands, and to identify biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis.
Contact: mjorda(ELIMINAR)@igtp.cat
ORCID: 0000-0003-3709-1850
Team
Laboratory technician
Jennifer Marcos(ELIMINAR)
Master's student
Àlex Pérez(ELIMINAR)
Research lines
The group’s research can be grouped in four research lines that combine genome-wide methodologies and locus-specific techniques to analyze samples from patients and to address mechanistic and functional questions with in vitro models.
- Understanding the molecular pathogenesis, with special focus on epigenetic mechanisms, of thyroid cancer progression and therapy resistance
- Study of epigenetic biomarkers and tools for diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring of thyroid cancer
- Understanding the role of DNA methylation in somatotroph pituitary tumors (acromegaly)
- Study of biomarkers and tools for diagnosis, prognosis and response to treatment of pituitary tumours
Active projects
Grup de Recerca SGR-Cat 2021 reconegut per la Generalitat de Catalunya: Grup de recerca en endocrinologia clínica i experimental (ENDOGRUP)
PI: Manel Puig Domingo
Funding agency: Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR)
Agency code: 2021 SGR 00539
Duration: 2023 - 2024
ACROMICS: next-generation precision medicine in the diagnosis and treatment of Acromegaly
PI: Manel Puig Domingo
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Agency code: PMP22/00021
Duration: 01/01/2023 - 31/12/2025
Validación del valor diagnóstico de un índice de metilación global del ADN en nódules tiroideos con citología indeterminada Bethesda IV
PI: Mireia Jordà
Funding agency: Fundación de la Sociedad Española de Endocrinología y Nutrición (FSEEN)
Duration: 01/01/2023 - 01/12/2024
Impact of the epigenetic deregulation in the progression and treatment of thyroid cancer (EpiThyro)
PI: Mireia Jordà
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Agency code: PI21/00195
Duration: 01/01/2022 - 31/12/2024
Ayudas Joan Oró para la contratación de personal investigador predoctoral en formación (FI 2023)
PI: Mireia Jordà
Funding agency: Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR), Generalitat de Catalunya
Agency code: 2023 FI-1 00508
Duration: 01/06/2023 - 31/05/2026
Contrato Predoctoral de Formación en Investigación en Salud (PFIS)
PI: Mireia Jordà
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Agency code: FI22/00066
Duration: 01/01/2023 - 31/12/2026
Past projects
Papel predictivo y pronóstico del metabolismo de los ácidos grasos mediante el análisis integral de parámetros lipídicos, radiómicos y endocrinos en el cáncer de próstata avanzado
PI: Juan Carlos Pardo
Funding agency: Sociedad Española de Oncología Médica (SEOM)
Agency code: PI21/00195
Duration: 01/01/2022 - 31/12/2023
Valor pronóstico y terapéutico de las Kalikreínas: una nueva herramienta en el cáncer de tiroides
PI: Mireia Jordà
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)
Agency code: PI18/00654
Duration: 01/01/2019 - 31/06/2023
Scientific publications
Highlighted publications
Klein Hesselink EN, Zafon C, Villalmanzo N, Iglesias C, van Hemel BM, Klein Hesselink MS, Montero-Conde C, Buj R, Mauricio D, Peinado MA, Puig-Domingo M, Riesco-Eizaguirre G, Reverter JL, Robledo M, Links TP, Jordà M. Increased Global DNA Hypomethylation in Distant Metastatic and Dedifferentiated Thyroid Cancer. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2018 Feb 1;103(2):397-406. DOI: 10.1210/jc.2017-01613.
Buj R, Mallona I, Díez-Villanueva A, Zafon C, Mate JL, Roca M, Puig-Domingo M, Reverter JL, Mauricio D, Peinado MA, Jordà M. Kallikreins Stepwise Scoring Reveals Three Subtypes of Papillary Thyroid Cancer with Prognostic Implications. Thyroid. 2018 May;28(5):601-612. DOI: 10.1089/thy.2017.0501.
Zafon C, Gil J, Pérez-González B, Jordà M. DNA methylation in thyroid cancer. Endocr Relat Cancer. 2019 Jul;26(7):R415-R439. DOI: 10.1530/ERC-19-0093.
Gil J, Marques-Pamies M, Sampedro M, Webb SM, Serra G, Salinas I, Blanco A, Valassi E, Carrato C, Picó A, García-Martínez A, Martel-Duguech L, Sardon T, Simó-Servat A, Biagetti B, Villabona C, Cámara R, Fajardo-Montañana C, Álvarez-Escolá C, Lamas C, Alvarez CV, Bernabéu I, Marazuela M, Jordà M, Puig-Domingo M. Data mining analyses for precision medicine in acromegaly: a proof of concept. Sci Rep. 2022 May 28;12(1):8979. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-12955-2.
Montero-Conde C, Leandro-García LJ, Martínez-Montes ÁM, Martínez P, Moya FJ, Letón R, Gil E, Martínez-Puente N, Guadalix S, Currás-Freixes M, García-Tobar L, Zafon C, Jordà M, Riesco-Eizaguirre G, González-García P, Monteagudo M, Torres-Pérez R, Mancikova V, Ruiz-Llorente S, Pérez-Martínez M, Pita G, Galofré JC, Gonzalez-Neira A, Cascón A, Rodríguez-Antona C, Megías D, Blasco MA, Caleiras E, Rodríguez-Perales S, Robledo M. Comprehensive molecular analysis of immortalization hallmarks in thyroid cancer reveals new prognostic markers. Clin Transl Med. 2022 Aug;12(8):e1001. DOI: 10.1002/ctm2.1001.
Additional information
Collaborative networks
Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER)
The research of the CIBERER Group CB06/07/0044 is focused on pituitary neuroendocrine tumors and the associated diseases, mainly acromegaly and Cushing syndrome.
Research group SGR-Cat 2021 recognised by the Generalitat de Catalunya: Clinical and experimental endocrinology research group (ENDOGRUP)
Along with HUGTiP’s Endocrinology Service and the group of Pituitary Diseases (U747 CIBERER) at Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, IGTP's group has received accreditation as a Consolidated Research Group by AGAUR. Its main objectives are: 1) diagnostic, prognostic and predictive markers of therapeutic response and biological behavior of thyroid cancer; 2) subclinical vasculopathy and hepatic steatosis in diabetes mellitus; 3) reversal of the complications of morbid obesity, particularly diabetes, after bariatric surgery; 4) precision medicine in acromegaly; 5) evaluation of quality of life in acromegaly and Cushing.
REMAH: Registro Español Molecular de Adenomas Hipofisarios
The Spanish Molecular Registry of Pituitary Adenomas of the Spanish Society of Endocrinology (SEEN) includes 6 nodes with common protocols and methods for sample and clinical data collection, molecular analysis, and data recording in a common registry. More than 700 pituitary tumours have been obtained and included in a specific database and, in more than 400 of the cases, there are clinical and molecular data associated with the sample. HUGTiP is the Catalan node, where Dr Jordà is the coordinator of the basic research.
News
IGTP-led study identifies an epigenetic signature with prognostic value in metastatic thyroid cancer
Researchers from the Endocrine Tumours group, in collaboration with five university hospitals, have conducted the first comprehensive study of DNA methylation patterns in metastatic differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). Published in the journal Thyroid, the study identifies an epigenetic signature comprising 156 CpG sites in primary tumours that could help stratify patients according to their risk of developing distant metastases.
IGTP offers PhD opportunities under the INPhINIT incoming 2025 call by Fundación "la Caixa"
Fundación "la Caixa" is offering 30 fellowships to researchers of all nationalities who wish to pursue official PhD studies in STEM disciplines at research centres and centres of excellence in Spain and Portugal. IGTP is open to hosting students under this program, who will have the opportunity to join one of IGTP's research groups and carry out their PhD research in their area of interest.