Objective
We advocate the hypothesis that successful chemotherapeutics can induce a type of tumor cell stress and death that is immunogenic, meaning that the patient’s dying cancer cells serve as a vaccine that stimulates a specific antitumor immune response, which in turn can control (and sometimes even eradicate) residual cancer cells. This is a highly original – and necessarily controversial – “breakthrough” concept since it challenges previous belief that anticancer chemotherapies act solely on the tumor cells, without any significant involvement of the host immune system. Cell death is usually non-immunogenic, and only a small minority of chemotherapeutic agents can induce immunogenic cell death, which - in contrast to classical apoptosis - is preceded by two types of pre-mortem stress, autophagy (which is required for cellular ATP release, an obligatory signal of immunogenicity) and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress (which is required for calreticulin [CRT] exposure at the cell surface, another obligatory signal of immunogenicity). Here, we will explore the hypothesis that cancer cell death is only immunogenic if the two pathways of pre-mortem stress, autophagy and ER stress, are simultaneously activated. Thus, we aim at “decoding” the anticancer drug-induced cellular pathways that regulate the immunogenicity of cell death. For this, we will trigger cancer cell death preceded by one or the two types of pre-mortem stress in a “synthetic system” (by genetic manipulation involving inducible transgenes in cancer cells and mice) or by means of selected pharmacological compounds in multiple in vitro and in vivo cancer models, as we monitor the immune-dependent therapeutic response. Moreover, we will investigate the functional links between autophagy, ER stress and immunogenic signaling. Finally, we will explore the translational relevance of these findings on human cancers.
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: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences medical biotechnology genetic engineering
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs vaccines
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology immunotherapy
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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.
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.
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.
ERC-2012-ADG_20120314
See other projects for this call
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.
Host institution
75654 PARIS
France
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.