Fundacio Privada Institutcio Catalana De Recerca I Estudis Avancats (icrea)

Fundacio Privada Institut De Recerca Hospital Universitatri Vall Hebron (ir-huvh)

Fundacio Privada Institut D'investigatio Oncologica Vall De'hebron (vhio)

Fundació Privada Institut D'investigatió Oncológica De Vall Hebron (Vhio)

Fundacio Privada Institut De Recerca Hospital Universitari Vall Hebron (ir-huvh)

Silvia Penuelas Prieto

Joan Seoane Suarez

José Baselga Torres

The invention is based on observing that LIF is capable of activating the self-renewal of tumor stem cells in cancer, in particular gliomas, which indicates that the inhibition of LIF, and generally of IL-6 type cytokines, can be used in therapeutic compositions for the treatment of diseases associated with unwanted proliferation. The invention also relates to a method for the identification of compounds capable of blocking/inhibiting the proliferation of stem cells, and to an in vitro method for the diagnosis of diseases associated with unwanted cell proliferation in a subject or for determining the predisposition of a subject to suffer said disease associated with unwanted cell proliferation, or for prognosis of average life expectancy of subjects suffering from said tumors.

Therapeutic agents for the treatment of diseases associated with undesired cell proliferation

The present invention relates to inhibitors of the expression and/or activity of LIF for the treatment of cancer. Particularly, the present invention provides an in vitro method for designing a customized therapy for a patient suffering from cancer comprising (a) quantifying the expression levels of LIF in said patient, and (b) comparing said expression levels with control levels, wherein if the expression levels of LIF in said patient are greater than the control values, then an inhibitory agent of LIF is administered to said patient.

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Barcelona, Spain

Silvia Penuelas Prieto