A project led by João Conde, a professor and researcher at NOVA Medical School, has received a 150,000-euro “Proof of Concept” grant from the European Research Council (ERC) to study the response of breast cancer tumors to available treatments. The goal is to develop and validate a laboratory model that allows for the precise recreation and control of the physical characteristics of two tumor subtypes, testing different approved therapies to identify which are most likely to produce better outcomes in patients.
The project, called APOLLO-BC, is based on the evidence that many drugs show promising performance in the laboratory but fail to deliver the same results when administered to patients. One reason for this discrepancy lies in the difficulty of reproducing, outside the body, the actual physical conditions in which tumors develop.
As part of APOLLO-BC, João Conde aims to recreate physical tumor factors in the laboratory—such as fluid flow, tissue stiffness, and drug penetration—conditions that traditional models, such as 2D cultures, and even some advanced 3D models, do not effectively replicate. These characteristics influence how drugs act on tumors and the response to treatment itself.
“By replicating the characteristics that most closely match each tumor, we want to determine—directly and by comparing with other models already used in the laboratory—whether we can better predict which treatments are most likely to be effective for each patient,” explains João Conde. “If all goes well, this will be the first time this type of validation has taken place, in which we compare the responses of two models side by side using samples from the same patients.”
The research focuses on the triple-negative and HER2-positive subtypes of breast cancer. Both subtypes exhibit highly variable responses to existing treatments. Over the course of 18 months, APOLLO-BC will compare the new approach with conventional preclinical models, using samples from 40 patients, and test at least six already-approved treatments. The evaluation will measure the reproducibility of the results, the ability to rank the most appropriate therapies on a decision scale, and the concordance with retrospective clinical outcomes.
The ERC Proof of Concept grant will enable the researcher to establish a new line of research in his laboratory focused on ex vivo systems (tissues, organs, or cells extracted from a living organism and maintained in an artificial environment) to predict responses to cancer treatments. It also opens up new opportunities for collaboration with hospitals, clinical research units, drug testing companies, CROs (Contract Research Organizations), and industry partners.
If it demonstrates clear advantages over existing preclinical models, the platform developed by APOLLO-BC could be adapted to other solid tumors, including those of the pancreas, lung, ovary, prostate, or colorectal tract.
ERC Proof of Concept grants are awarded exclusively to Principal Investigators who have previously received ERC funding and are intended to support the valorisation, commercial innovation potential and social impact of research results funded by the ERC.