Objective
Recent advances using immune checkpoint inhibitors demonstrate the great potential of immunemodulation in cancer and metastasis treatment. However, the effective treatment of only a subset of patients shows that this is only the start to utilize the power of the immune system to fight cancer. An interesting approach is to harness innate immune cells, such as plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) and tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) to attack tumors and to enhance the effect of standard anti-cancer therapies. Recently, using mouse models we identified two independent mechanisms by which modulation of these two cell types restrained tumor growth. First, the direct killing of tumor cells by pDCs that occurs independent of the adaptive immune system. Second, we identified a tumor-promoting role of EGFR-expressing (EGFR+) TAMs during tumorigenesis. This enables us to look at the role of EGFR in tumorigenesis in a completely new way and we plan to exploit this novel finding to reevaluate the mechanism by which anti-EGFR drugs are effective in tumors. The mechanisms endowing pDCs with tumor-killing capacities and determining the specificity of tumor cell recognition by activated pDCs are poorly understood. Furthermore, the interaction of pDCs with macrophages has never been investigated in tumors. Here I propose to define the molecular mechanisms by which pDCs and TAMs can be instructed to adopt an anti-tumorigenic phenotype. Inducible and cell-specific genetic mouse models mimicking human cancers will allow to molecularly dissect the immunemodulatory capacity of pDCs and TAMs. State-of-the-art large scale in vitro and in vivo RNAi screens will provide a platform to identify novel molecular pathways and open the possibility for testing new strategies in cancer immunetherapy. The clinical significance of our findings will be validated in human cancer samples in close cooperation with clinicians, which ensures a fast predictive and therapeutic translation of our results.
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 clinical medicine oncology colorectal cancer
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology immunotherapy
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine gastroenterology
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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.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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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.
ERC-ADG - Advanced Grant
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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) ERC-2015-AdG
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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.
1090 Wien
Austria
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.