Maribel Martínez Macías is a member of the IMIBIC group GC22 Epigenetics, under the supervision of the group leader Prof. Teresa Roldán. Her project is titled GLIOCHEM – Repair of temozolomide-induced DNA damage in tumour cells: role in glioblastoma resistance to chemotherapy. This project aims to generate new knowledge on the molecular mechanisms involved in resistance to temozolomide, a DNA methylating agent used in the treatment of several types of cancer including glioblastoma (brain tumour). Moving towards personalised cancer therapy, the expected results include the identification of new therapeutic targets and predictive biomarkers for methylating anticancer treatment. Maribel’s project will last from January 2021 till December 2023.
Objective 1. Analyse the correlation between resistance to TMZ in GBM cell lines and levels of DNA methylation, expression and activity of DNA repair proteins. Objective 2. Examine DNA repair capacity and transcriptional response in TMZ sensitive and resistant GBM cell lines. Objective 3. Study the synthetic lethality of TMZ in combination with topoisomerase I and RNA polymerase I inhibitors.