The Developmental Cancer research group celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. Led by the head of pediatric oncology at the Hospital Maternoinfantil Sant Joan de Déu, Jaume Mora, the group has consolidated its own style that bases all its efforts on improving the diagnostic, prognostic and treatment processes for patients affected by developmental tumors. For Mora, the priority objective of any of the 17 people who make up his team in the laboratory is to be able to answer the questions asked by their patients.

The Hospital Maternoinfantil treats 175 new cases of cancer in children each year and teenagers, with leukemia being the most frequent, followed by tumors in the nervous system (neuroblastomas and brain tumors) and tumors derived from supporting tissues such as bone or muscle (sarcomas). Unlike cancer in adults, developmental tumors are not related to cell deterioration but are caused by errors in the normal process of tissue formation and development during the growth period. Currently, more than 80% of treated cases are cured.

Do you think there are still many false beliefs about cancer affecting children?

Yes, because the same medical sector continues to refer to it as childhood cancer. Our group has helped to clarify that it is developmental cancer, which has different origins and behavior from adult cancer. Developmental cancer is an accident of nature, a malformation in the process of organ formation that cannot be prevented. In this sense, parents should not feel guilty about it. -

What have been the main contributions of your laboratory in the field of pediatric oncology?

The most significant findings have been to improve the ability to predict the behavior of the tumor in cases of neuroblastoma and to discover a new pathway that will allow, in the immediate future, a targeted therapy for these cases. In addition, we have been the first group to develop an animal model of brain stem tumor and we have achieved the complete sequencing of the Ewing Sarcoma genome.

How have you contributed to improving the quality of life of the children in the area of care?

We have achieved a new treatment that allows curing spinal cord gliomas without radiotherapy, a key element to reduce future complications in these survivors. We have also developed a protocol for the treatment of Ewing's Sarcoma and have introduced intra-arterial chemotherapy for the treatment of retinoblastoma.

Your group, which has grown from 2 people to 17 in a decade, is a national reference in developmental cancer. What are the keys to your success?

We have managed to make people understand that our research is at the patient's side, which is fundamental to improve our ability to predict, diagnose and apply new treatments. The laboratory cannot be far from the patient. Families have understood this and that explains why 80% of the group's funding comes from private and corporate donations.

We are talking about more than €400,000 in 2012...

9 out of 10 families who have passed through our group at the Hospital remain involved in our institution and this is the most objective assessment that we do things well. In spite of the bad situation suffered by the families, they feel welcomed, listened to and helped and this translates, a posteriori, into commitment, contributions of funds and donations of tissues such as biopsies or autopsies to maintain the future of research.

What has been your best moment within the group during these 10 years?

Two and a half years ago I realized that the group would function without me being in it. The school is well established and the principles are consolidated. It is a group with a future.

Would you have been able to form this group and this way of working in an institution other than San Juan de Dios?

I would not have been able to do it in any other public institution, because here there is a special way of looking at patients and it offers flexibility to its professionals so that they can develop. Precisely another of the keys to the success of the oncology unit is the involvement of all the Hospital's professionals who work with cancer patients: nurses, psychologists, surgeons, radiologists, pathologists, therapists, biologists.... When a patient comes through the door and a tumor is detected, no one assesses him or her in isolation. We have had a tumor committee that has been meeting every week for the last 10 years, where we decide as a group how and who will intervene in each procedure. We have learned to listen to each other and this is the key to success.