The Spanish National Brain Metastasis Network (RENACER) celebrated the last October 23rd its Annual General Assembly, jointly with the GEINO Congress, the Spanish Neuro-oncology Research Group.
For this meeting, RENACER invited all the stakeholders interested in brain metastasis, to learn about the findings and new advances that are being developed in this field. The aim of this conference was to raise awareness of the great benefits and opportunities of belonging to this expanding network.
The Secretary General for Research of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, Eva Ortega-Paíno gave the inaugural speech of the 4th General Assembly. Not long ago, she was a founding member of RENACER, which has now expanded to 19 reference hospitals and growing. We felt very honoured for her support.
During the meeting, the RENACER Managing Director, Mª Jesús Artiga, Scientific Director of the CNIO Biobank, and the RENACER Scientific Director, Manuel Valiente, Head of the CNIO Brain Metastasis Laboratory, presented the main results and key features of RENACER, which resulted in an increasing number of hospitals involved, and in the number of samples that have been mobilized into the network for biomedical research. All this work has been already translated into the generation of relevant results, the publication of high-impact scientific papers, the design and launch of clinical trials and the establishment of public-private collaborations with industry, which accelerates the translation of scientific discoveries to the clinical practice.
Additionally, we had the opportunity to meet with distinguished speakers, who shared their knowledge in different thematic areas linked to brain metastasis. On this occasion, we had the pleasure of listening to Dr. Sanne Schagen, a leader in the study of the impact of cancer treatments and brain tumours on the cognition. Dr. Schagen updated attendees with her last research at the Netherlands Cancer Institute related to their efforts to maintain cognitive function in cancer patients, for which they developed the Amsterdan Cognition Scan (ACS), which is aimed to be implement in RENACER.
Besides, Dr. Alfonso Valencia, a worlwide renowned computational biologist, whose work stands out for the combination of bioinformatics, network biology and machine learning approaches, commented the urgent need for coordinating, sharing and exploiting the vast amounts of available clinical, imaging and biological data, presenting some key initiatives in this regard, such as the European Initiative to UNderstand CANcer (UNCAN.eu) and IMPaCT Data, where he is participating.
Finally, we had the opportunity to know more about the phase Ib/II CAN-201 NDG (NCT05635734) trial with Azeliragon, by Juan Manuel Sepúlveda, Clinician in Neuro-Oncology, Coordinator of the Multidisciplinary Unit of Neuro-Oncology of the Doce de Octubre Hospital and President at GEINO. He presented some encouraging results of the observational study on radio-resistance mediated by S100A9 in patients with brain metastases.
The RENACER Board Member, Fátima Al-Shahrour Núñez, Head of the CNIO Bioinformatics Unit, presented the RENACER Data Portal, a platform which aims to leverage RENACER molecular and clinical data through secure data sharing systems, aligning with EU Cancer mission initiatives and European flagship efforts, by enabling data access and sharing in the line of initiatives such as UNCAN.eu, EOSC4Cancer, GDI & EUCAIM, while committing with Open Science principles, for scientific data collection, management and stewardship. RENACER Data Portal will serve as a hub for secure, scalable data access and collaboration by offering a solid network to improve Brain Metastasis treatment and accelerate precision medicine.
We were grateful for the presence of the passionate researchers, clinicians and patients represented by GEPAC, who joined us during the day; and for the interesting reflections, recommendations for improvement and new approaches that came together at the 4th RENACER General Assembly. We will work together to improve the knowledge and clinical management of brain metastasis, further enriching RENACER’s commitment and vision.
