Our involvement in preclinical breast cancer research

On the occasion of the breast cancer awareness month, HCS Pharma is willing to thank all researchers working in the field to better understand the pathophysiology of disease, with the objective to find more efficient anti-cancer therapies. We would like to warmly thank the researchers with whom we are collaborating in this frame.

We are collaborating within a ‘COMmon LABoratory’ called BioPharMEMs, aiming at modelling angiogenesis, i.e. the formation of new vessels, in miniaturized and sensor-containing organs-on-chips (=MEMs, for MicroElectroMechanical systems). This phenomenon is activated in cancer tissues, making the cancer cells more prone to proliferate, escape to form metastasis, etc. This research is performed in collaboration with Dr Fabrice Soncin (SMiLL-E, , Seeding Microsystems in Medecine in Lille – European-Japanese Technologies against Cancer), Dr Anthony Treizebre (IEMN, Institut d’Electronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie, Lille), Dr Vincent Senez (SMiLL-E) and Dr Cagatay Tarhan (SMiLL-E).

We are also collaborating with Dr Samuel Meignan (UMR1277 CANTHER, for CANcer heterogeneity, plasticity and resistance to THERapies, Lille) and Dr Karine Hannebicque (CHR Oscar Lambret) for creating biological ‘avatars’ of breast cancer tumors using BIOMIMESYS. The objective is to recreate in vitro cancer tissues in 3D by considering the extra-cellular matrix. Such models should be used to test anti-cancer drugs.

The team of Dr Xuefen Le Bourhis (UMR1277 CANTHER, team “Cellular plasticity and cancer”) aims at deciphering the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying breast cancer stemness and plasticity. We are providing them with BIOMIMESYS hydroscaffolds for modelling breast cancer subtypes and metastases in adipose tissue- and brain-like environments.

We thank these reaserchers, the students, engineers and technicians of these teams for their commitment against breast cancer. We hope that our solution BIOMIMESYS will help them to better model the cancer tissues, to select efficient drugs by modelling the tumoral complex with more relevance. We need all of you!

Last but not least, HCS Pharma thanks Dr Zied Souguir, Marie Lesaffre, and Thomas Meynard for their work on breast cancer cell responses in vitro and related extracellular matrix issues. Stay tuned to be updated soon about their results in BIOMIMESYS!