Professor Pedro Guillén receives the Jiménez Díaz Commemorative Lesson Award 2022

Professor Pedro Guillén, founder and president of Clínica Cemtro, has received the LIII Jiménez Díaz Commemorative Lecture Award, organized by the Conchita Rábago Foundation. The Commemorative Lecture was part of the Symposium, ‘Healing with cells: from reality to the future’, which was held this Thursday, May 19, in the Aula Magna of the Fundación Jiménez Díaz University Hospital (FJD), and could be followed in person and online.

The Conchita Rábago Foundation was established after the death of Professor Carlos Jiménez Díaz. Her widow, Conchita Rábago, decided to create the Foundation on the advice of her nephews, doctors Gregorio de Rábago, Pedro de Rábago and Mariano Jiménez Casado, heads of the FJD’s Cardiovascular Surgery, Cardiology and Internal Medicine services, respectively. .

The Conchita Rábago Foundation annually celebrates the Jiménez Díaz Commemorative Lecture to reward the work of an outstanding international figure in medicine or biomedical research, who gives a lecture in the Aula Magna of the Jiménez Díaz Foundation accompanied by distinguished researchers who complete the event with a ‘symposium’.

«We have 54 years of life. Deep down, this Lesson commemorates a person who changed medicine in our country. That he knew how to understand and combine the concepts of assistance, teaching and research », explained Dr. Gregorio de Rábago, president of the Conchita Rábago Foundation.

This prize has been awarded annually since 1969 and international scientists such as Severo Ochoa, César Milstein, Jean Dausset, Valentín Fuster and Juan Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte have been honored. As Dr. De Rábago indicated during his speech: «It is one of the most prestigious awards in our country. This Foundation is a legacy from Don Carlos and Doña Conchita to their nephews, whose main objectives are two: to honor him by keeping his name alive and to promote research».

This fifty-third Master Lecture was moderated by Carmen Ayuso García, Head of the Department of Genetics at Fundación Jiménez Díaz University Hospital, and Damián García-Olmo, Head of the Department of General and Digestive Surgery at Fundación Jiménez Díaz University Hospital.

Among the magnificent presentations that have taken place, the one by Professor Juan Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte stands out, entitled ‘Cell programming strategies for the treatment of disease and ageing’.

“Doctors are very busy and concerned with curing patients and researchers are very busy with curing mice. If we don’t talk to each other, it’s going to take us a long time to cross that bridge,” said Izpisúa, and highlighted the “importance of a job well done when it’s done together,” referring to the relationship with the Clínica Cemtro research team.

For her part, Ana Pastor, second vice president of the Congress of Deputies and former Minister of Health and Consumption, introduced the award-winning doctor Pedro Guillén, sharing some affectionate words towards him: «Far from being carried away by arrogance, he preserves intact the same essence that when i met him He is the most generous companion I have ever seen and most importantly: he has never forgotten where he comes from, from a district of Archena, Murcia, nor has he forgotten those who have guided him on his way».

“Professor Guillén, together with the eminent professor Juan Carlos Izpisúa, present here, have formed a ‘de facto translational couple’ that still has many surprises in store for us,” said Ana Pastor.

«On this third Thursday of May full of memories and evocations whose memory will always be with me, I come excited to receive such a high distinction. The gratitude that lives in my soul does not find the right words and my lips only know how to sing thanks”, Professor Guillén presented his lesson ‘The cell as medicine. The cell, the chondrocyte, a therapeutic opportunity’.

Guillén excitedly began an excellent speech in which words of thanks and, above all, wisdom were not lacking. «I wish at this moment to evoke here the person and work of Dr. Carlos Jiménez Díaz. Don Carlos belongs to the group of the truly immortal because his legacy and his influence are still alive, because of his disciples who can perpetuate and multiply his values ​​and gifts to society/humanity and his exemplarity enriched and inspired clinicians yesterday and today, and we all see who lives and will live in his work for spiritual and innovative greatness».

During his presentation, Professor Guillén spoke about his doctoral thesis, which he presented in 1988: «From the cells of embryonic embryos in stages from 18 to 20, we achieved a structure with muscular and cartilaginous formations similar to those of the receptor and in its proximity were nerve fibers, suggesting neural dependence. With that group of cells in the coelomic cavity, we achieved an evident cartilaginous tissue. So, cartilage tissue is the first tissue in antiquity of the musculoskeletal system».

After a brief introduction on cell cultures to obtain tissues and organs from them, Guillén referred to the chondrocyte, the only cell of the articular hyaline cartilage (CHA): «During the professional life of the traumatologist, cartilage injuries represent one of the the greatest challenges it faces. Given its limited healing capacity due to the lack of blood and lymphatic supply, a small injury to the cartilage of a synovial joint such as the knee, ankle or hip, that is, a joint that bears the load of body weight, it often progresses to the problem of osteoarthritis, which is highly prevalent in today’s society.”

“Injuries and diseases that affect the tissues of the musculoskeletal system cause intense pain and disability for hundreds of millions of people around the world and represent great challenges for traumatologists and orthopedic surgeons,” he continued.

He explained that knee osteoarthritis is a joint disease that is initially inflammatory and then becomes chronic and degenerative. The global incidence is 199.5 cases per 100,000 people / year, which continues to increase and represents a high economic impact. In the USA, 620,192 osteoarthritic knee prostheses are performed each year at a very high total cost (285 billion dollars). “From these data we understand that clinicians and researchers need to take time to reflect on the big questions raised by the relentless increase in osteoarthritis secondary to trauma, surgical procedures (meniscectomy and ligamentoplasty), and aging,” he explained.

Currently there is precariousness of tissues and organs, and this will increase over time, since traffic accidents have decreased and therefore the number of poly-trauma patients, an important source of organs for transplantation. In addition, man’s longevity has increased and he is less altruistic. All this means that we can alleviate this lack of tissues and organs with techniques such as tissue engineering. In this sense, Professor Guillén assured that “Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering, today, have the best possible credentials to take on the challenge of repairing or replacing diseased or damaged organs or tissues, either due to the wear and tear inherent to age, or as a result of a certain pathology such as leukemia, multiple sclerosis or muscle or joint regeneration.

Guillén ended his talk with this reflection: «Technological research and innovation applied to science for the benefit of society and at the service of medicine, health and the well-being of people is one of the most beautiful challenges that it well deserves. It’s worth it that we dedicate our efforts.”