Humanitas Istituto Clinico Catanese and IDIBAPS launch breast cancer research project

An international research project is underway to improve treatment for HR+/HER2-negative breast cancer, the most common form of the disease, accounting for approximately 70% of cases. Supported by the Fondazione Humanitas Sicilia (FHS), the study focuses on neoadjuvant therapy and personalized medicine to identify tools that can predict how patients will respond to treatment.

The collaboration involves Humanitas Istituto Clinico Catanese in Sicily and the IDIBAPS Foundation in Barcelona. Researchers are analyzing tumor samples from over 100 patients both before neoadjuvant chemotherapy and after surgical intervention. By comparing the genetic and molecular characteristics of the initial neoplasia with any residual tumor tissue, the team aims to identify predictive biomarkers.

Professor Paolo Vigneri, head of University Medical Oncology at Humanitas Istituto Clinico Catanese, noted that in advanced cases, tumors can be large and involve multiple lymph nodes. Identifying these biomarkers would allow clinicians to determine which patients will benefit most from chemotherapy, helping to avoid ineffective treatments and enabling faster adjustments to therapeutic strategies.