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22/04/2026 - Press release

TuMiCC achieves major advances that could transform the prevention and treatment of colon cancer

• The project, led by INCLIVA, the Hospital del Mar Research Institute and the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology, has developed models based on artificial intelligence and the use of liquid biopsy to molecularly characterize patients with a more aggressive phenotype.
• It has also been discovered that the tumor microenvironment influences resistance to chemotherapy, opening new avenues for treatments targeting both tumor cells and their surrounding environment.

 The research project Tumour microenvironment-derived factors in localized colon cancer: clinical impact and therapeutic implications (TuMiCC), which has studied the tumor microenvironment in localized colon cancer over six years in order to optimize treatment, reduce relapses and improve survival, has concluded with important advances regarding resistance to standard chemotherapy in a subgroup of patients.

The INCLIVA Health Research Institute led the project, coordinated by Dr Andrés Cervantes and Dr Noelia Tarazona, co-principal investigators of the Colorectal Cancer and New Therapeutic Developments in Solid Tumors Research Group (InDeST). Dr Cervantes is Scientific Director of INCLIVA and Head of the Medical Oncology Department at the Clinical University Hospital of València. The Hospital del Mar Research Institute in Barcelona (HMRIB) also participated, represented by Dr Clara Montagut, who leads the Precision Medicine in Colorectal Cancer Research Group and is also Head of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Section in the Medical Oncology Department at Hospital del Mar; together with Dr Elena Élez, Head of the Digestive Tumors Unit at Vall d'Hebron University Hospital and Head of the Gastrointestinal Tract Tumors Group at the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO), and Dr Héctor García Palmer, Head of the Stem Cells and Cancer Group, also at VHIO.

In 2020, TuMiCC received one of the Coordinated Groups Grants from the Spanish Association Against Cancer, aimed at "promoting collaborative research through multidisciplinary research groups that address an existing clinical need," with funding of close to one million euros.

Among its most outstanding results, the project has enabled the development of a relapse prediction system for patients in different scenarios using artificial intelligence and deep learning, which uses models called artificial neural networks inspired by the functioning of the human brain, together with the analysis of visual images of biological tissues observed under the microscope. This helps identify high-risk patients.

In addition, the use of liquid biopsy has helped molecularly characterize patients with a more aggressive disease phenotype. One of the most relevant findings is the demonstration that the tumor microenvironment influences resistance to chemotherapy, opening new avenues for treatments directed at both tumor cells and their environment. These advances could transform the prevention and treatment of colon cancer.

Biomarkers to predict treatment response and prevent relapse

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in Spain, with more than 43,000 new cases each year. Although five-year survival has reached 65%, 40% of patients relapse after initial treatment with surgery and chemotherapy. The aim of the project has been to fill this gap by identifying biomarkers that help better predict which patients may relapse and which will respond best to therapy, avoiding unnecessary overtreatment.

In this regard, the project has made significant progress in colon cancer research, providing advances that could change the way relapse is treated and prevented in these patients. The team has used state-of-the-art technologies, including AI and deep learning, and multidisciplinary approaches to better understand how tumor cells and their environment influence response to treatment, especially in patients who, despite receiving chemotherapy after surgery, remain at high risk of relapse.

In addition, a major effort has been made in the molecular characterization of tumors by analyzing both their genetic and epigenetic profile through liquid biopsy, a non-invasive type of analysis that makes it possible to detect traces of tumor DNA in blood. This technique promises to revolutionize the way patients with colon cancer are monitored, as it could offer a fast and simple way to detect relapse in different settings. The results of the molecular analyses have been key to understanding how certain tumors manage to resist treatment and grow again.

At the same time, the team has also been working on the study of the tumor microenvironment, that is, the non-cancerous cells surrounding the tumor, such as fibroblasts and immune system cells, which may influence its behavior and response to therapy. It has been discovered that some of these cells, such as cancer-associated fibroblasts, play a crucial role in resistance to oxaliplatin chemotherapy, a common treatment in colorectal cancer. This finding is especially promising because it opens the door to the development of new drugs that target not only tumor cells, but also their environment, preventing healthy cells from collaborating with the tumor.

In this context, preclinical models have been developed that reproduce in the laboratory the interaction between tumor cells and their microenvironment, making it possible to advance understanding and the discovery of new therapeutic approaches.

Thanks to these advances, the project has achieved its final objective: to identify biomarkers that make it possible to predict treatment response and prevent relapse in patients with colon cancer.

In its final phase, the research has focused on validating these findings and advancing towards more personalized treatments, with the aim of improving survival and reducing relapse.

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