Project description
Double blow on neuroblastoma
Immunotherapy is a promising anticancer strategy in principle, but clinical results show great variation among different types of cancer. The immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment seems to hinder the efficacy of various regimens, including engineered chimeric antigen receptor T cells. Funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the IronKiller project proposes to combine a natural killer (NK)-based immunotherapy with drugs that activate ferroptosis to treat refractory neuroblastoma. Ferroptosis is a cell death mechanism that activates the immune system and recruits NK cells. Moreover, researchers will develop a modelling approach for predicting the outcome of such combinatorial treatment in individual patients.
Objective
Neuroblastoma (NB), a rare paediatric solid tumour, accounts for 15% of childhood cancer deaths. Immunotherapy has improved the survival for haematological malignancies, but solid tumours remain a challenge. The high heterogeneity, low mutational load, and strong immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment (i-TME) have hindered the success of immunotherapy in NB. Recently, natural killer (NK) cells have stood as a promising immunotherapeutic tool, as they dont depend on specific mutations. Still, clinical trials for NB show only modest results, proving further action is needed to overcome the iTME. Late findings show that refractory tumours often respond to Ferroptosis, a novel cell death mechanism that is highly immunogenic. Cancer cells undergoing ferroptosis release HMGB1 and other well-known recruiters of NK cells. Moreover, ferroptotic drugs can act through several mechanisms and can be adapted to patients with different tumour characteristics. The goal of IronKiller is to combine ferroptotic drugs with NK cell therapy to treat refractory NB, and to perform in silico modelling of the results to predict which patients would benefit from this novel therapy.
I am an experienced biologist and engineer joining a clinical research group strong in immunotherapies. We will follow an in vitro-in vivo-in silico strategy that will cover a variety of disciplines, from basic biology and pre-clinical research, all the way to bioinformatics and machine learning. I will reinforce my experience in cell death mechanisms and translational research, and I will also acquire new knowledge and skills in the areas of cell immunotherapy and oncological mathematical modelling. The latter through a secondment at an academic institution. Along with the research work, the diverse training, management and communication activities planned, will play a key role in advancing my professional development towards becoming an independent academic group leader in translational cancer 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: 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.
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics mutation
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology immunotherapy
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
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.
-
HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
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.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
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) HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01
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.
28046 Madrid
Spain
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.