A new treatment aims to avoid the side-effects of conventional methods like chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
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00:00It changed everything. There is nothing like before. Nothing, absolutely nothing.
00:06From my own conception as a person to the way of facing things, it changes everything.
00:14There is nothing like before. Eight months ago I was a totally different person.
00:19I am not me anymore. I am another version of me.
00:22The drastic change that it generates in the person and in his environment is very different.
00:31Laura, who is a doctor, was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.
00:35She has had three operations, as well as chemo and radiotherapy.
00:39Meanwhile, at 62, Pedro has survived lung cancer, but he is paying a heavy price for it.
00:45The consequences of chemo and radiotherapy are the broken nails.
00:54I can't open my bags, I can't open anything. I can't feel anything.
00:59Now everything is smooth for me. I see everything as smooth.
01:03I always carry my hands as if they were wet, you see?
01:06After the shower, then the sunburn.
01:14Within the European Union project Ulysses, researchers are working on a nanoparticle-based treatment.
01:20So far tested against pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of cancer,
01:25it's aimed at triggering the rejection of the tumour by the human body in a kind of a vaccine effect.
01:32The idea is to activate the immune system.
01:36And for this, we will have to introduce specific molecules in the tumour that can generate this immune response.
01:46Crucial for this is the delivery of genetic material to the tumour cells,
01:50a role played by nanoparticles similar to those used for the COVID-19 vaccines,
01:55which are being developed in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology of the Oncology Institute of Valencia.
02:01If this vaccine is effective against pancreatic cancer,
02:05it could open up a new therapeutic opportunity for other types of tumours
02:10that are also causing mortality and currently have no treatment options.
02:17If the treatment works, it alone would be a milestone for science and research, López Guerrero says.
02:23And as only the tumour cells would be targeted by the immune response,
02:27the side effects of current treatments such as chemo and radiotherapy would be greatly reduced.