Joaquín Arribas

Vall d'Hebron Institut d'Oncologia

Life & Medical Sciences

Joaquín Arribas completed his undergraduate studies in biochemistry at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in 1987. At the same university he subsequently worked on the regulation of the catalytic activities of the proteasome and received his PhD in Biology in 1991. Sponsored by a fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, he joined the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York (USA), as a Postdoctoral Fellow to work with J. Massagué (1992-1996) on the proteolytic processing of transmembrane growth factors. In 1997 he joined the oncology department at Hospital Vall d'Hebron in Barcelona as a Staff Scientist, since then he has lead the research group on Growth Factors. Since 2010 he has served as Director of VHIO´s Preclinical Research Program. His research has been recognized through an EMBO Young Investigator Programme (YIP) Award and the Beckman Coulter Award for the Best Young Spanish Investigator in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.


Research interests

* Determine the therapeutic value of the anti-p95HER2 antibodies to treat breast cancers.

* Analyze cellular heterogeneity of HER2-positive breast tumors.

* Explore the link between HER2-driven senescence and breast cancer invasion.

Selected publications

- Rius Ruiz I, Vicario R, Morancho B, Morales CB, Arenas EJ, Herter S, Freimoser-Grundschober A, Somandin J, Sam J, Ast O, Barriocanal ÁM, Luque A, Escorihuela M, Varela I, Cuartas I, Nuciforo P, Fasani R, Peg V2, Rubio I, Cortés J, Serra V, Escriva-de-Romani S, Sperinde J, Chenna A, Huang W, Winslow J, Albanell J, Seoane J, Scaltriti M, Baselga J, Tabernero J, Umana P, Bacac M, Saura C, Klein C & Arribas J 2018, 'p95HER2-T cell bispecific antibody for breast cancer treatment', Science Translational Medicine, 10, 461, eaat1445.

- Georgilis A, Klotz S, Hanley CJ,  Herranz N, Weirich B, Morancho B, Leote AC, D'Artista L, Gallage S, Seehawer M, Carroll T, Dharmalingam G, Keng Boon DW, Mellone M, Pombo J, Heide D, Guccione E, Arribas J, Barbosa-Morais NL, Heikenwalder M, Thomas GJ, Zender L & Gil J 2018 'PTBP1-Mediated Alternative Splicing Regulates the Inflammatory Secretome and the Pro-tumorigenic Effects of Senescent Cells', Cancer Cell 34, 85-102.

- Gawrzak S, Rinaldi L, Arenas EJ, Salvador F, Gregorio S, Rojo F, del Barco Barrantes I, Cejalvo JM, Palafox M, Guiu M, Berenguer-Llergo A, Symeonidi A, Urosevic J, Bellmunt A, Kalafatovic D,  Arnal-Estapé A, Fernández E, Müllauer B, Groeneveld R, Slobodnyuk K, Stephan-Otto Attolini C, Saura C, Arribas J, Cortes J, Ana Rovira A, Muñoz M, Lluch A, Serra V, Albanell J, Prat A, Nebreda AR, Aznar-Benitah S & Gomis RR 2018 'MSK1 regulates luminal cell differentiation and metastatic dormancy in breast cancer', Nat Cell Biol, 20, 211-221.  

- Cruz C, Llop-Guevara A, Garber JE, Arun BK, Pérez Fidalgo JA, Lluch A, Telli ML, Fernández C, Kahatt C, Galmarini CM, Soto-Matos A, Alfaro V, Pérez de la Haza A, Domchek SM, Antolin S, Vahdat L, Tung NM, Lopez R, Arribas J, Vivancos A, Baselga J, Serra V, Balmaña J & Isakoff SJ 2018, 'Multicenter Phase II Study of Lurbinectedin in BRCA-Mutated and Unselected Metastatic Advanced Breast Cancer and Biomarker Assessment Substudy', J Clin Oncol, 36, 31, 3134 - 3143.