Objective
Tumours escape proper immune response by propagating immune suppression. Immunotherapy aims to enhance anti-tumour immunity. This highly relevant research area arose recently from advantages in immunology, genetics and oncology. Currently, immunotherapeutics are either protein (e.g. antibodies) or cell-based (e.g. cancer vaccines) and promising approaches target immune checkpoint control, a mechanism crucial for anti-tumour T cell activity.
Here, development of a completely new class of immunotherapeutics based on advantageous oligonucleotides is proposed.
To this aim, oligonucleotides will be designed to modulate expression of receptor genes involved in immune checkpoint control (e.g. PD-L1, CTLA4) and thus block tumour-mediated T cell inhibition. Of special interest will be the employment of the exon skipping technique to reduce surface receptor and potentially induce antagonistic soluble isoforms.
To ensure delivery of oligonucleotides, liposomal or polycationic nanoparticles will be utilized as previous studies demonstrated good tissue bioavailability, e.g. for PTO-antisense RNA and polyethylenimine. Oligonucleotides will be tested for functionality, efficacy and non-toxicity in vitro. To facilitate practical clinical application of the developed drugs, most promising candidates will then be applied to pre-clinical tumour models in vivo. Charmingly, this novel technique will also be applied ex vivo to enhance anti-cancer cell therapy, thus evading systemic distribution.
Collaboration of two world-renowned scientific institutions, the German Fraunhofer society and Canadian partner McMaster University, will ensure a prolific environment for successful project conclusion and allow considerable advancement of the career of a most promising European researcher. Furthermore, the project will support development of a key technology in the important field of cancer therapy, thus providing a significant competitive advantage for European interests in health research.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs vaccines
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics RNA
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology immunotherapy
- medical and health sciences medical biotechnology cells technologies
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF-GF - Global Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2015
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
80686 MUNCHEN
Germany
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.