One of the main causes of death in HIV patients is cancer, which is why Dr. Gabriel Valantin directs his research to identify therapeutic improvements.
Gabriel Valantín, Phd student, Doctorate in molecular and cellular biology, from the Central University of the Caribbean (UCC). Photo: Medicine and Public Health Magazine/ Provided by the Doctor.
Using current treatments and antiretroviral therapies, the patients who live with HIV they may have longer survival and better quality of life; however, there are different opportunistic or associated diseases that are linked or worsened by this virus, and one of the main causes of death it’s still cancer.
Gabriel Valantínstudent of PhdPhD in molecular and cellular biology, from the Central Caribbean University (UCC), run a research focused on finding those changes in molecular signalingcaused by a protein known as GP120expressed in HIV, and its impact on a type of cancer specific, known as Glioblastoma.
Within the investigation, a study was published in which it was possible to demonstrate that the GP120 glycoprotein, typical of the HIV coating, has the ability to negatively alter the metabolism of glioblastoma cells, increasing glucose consumption and likewise the cell proliferation rate carcinogenic. This increases the risk of death from this type of cancer.
“From my research I am surprised by the complexity of cancer, and how external factors such as HIV can directly influence, in a negative way, the response to cancer treatments and exacerbate the malignancy of a tumor,” says the researcher.
The goal of this research is to determine those potential treatments that allow improving the quality of life of these patients. patients with HIV who are also diagnosed with cancer, through the identification of drugs that inhibit the effects that HIV can have on glioblastoma cells and that worsen the situation of these patients.
The dr. Valentineenters the UCC, thanks to the different recommendations he had from his professors at the University of Puerto Ricosite Aguadillawho motivated him by seeing the educational success that it has been for other previous students in this institution, thus, it has become a support for those who seek to enter the institution.
“Throughout my training as a doctoral student, I have had the opportunity to serve as a mentor to new students interested in cancer research,” shares the Dr. Gabrieland this has allowed him to have an approach as a researcher, and he manages to understand these mechanisms that improve in their own processes and experiments.
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