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Protease‐guided tumor targeting tools to revolutionize cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Descripción del proyecto

Nuevas herramientas dirigidas contra tumores para el diagnóstico y el tratamiento

Las proteasas se suelen sobreexpresar de forma considerable en el microambiente tumoral, y sus centros activos permiten la unión de alta afinidad de vectores. Estas características las convierten en candidatas idóneas para actuar de forma selectiva sobre los tumores. En este contexto, las innovaciones recientes se basan en el empleo de vectores de moléculas pequeñas que se dirigen a las proteasas del microambiente tumoral. El objetivo del proyecto OncoProTools, financiado por las Acciones Marie Skłodowska-Curie, es lograr un gran avance en el diagnóstico y el tratamiento del cáncer. Con este fin, se desarrollarán enfoques innovadores para actuar de forma selectiva sobre las proteasas en los tratamientos con linfocitos T con receptores de antígenos quiméricos, el descubrimiento de nuevos vectores que se unen mejor a las proteasas del microambiente tumoral, y la introducción de diagnósticos innovadores basados en una mejor comprensión de la biología del microambiente tumoral. Además, OncoProTools formará a diez estudiantes de doctorado, dotándoles de las capacidades para convertirse en líderes en la investigación oncológica.

Objetivo

Europe has a high cancer burden: in 2020, 2.7 million EU citizens were diagnosed with the disease and 1.3 million lost their lives to it. This toll is expected to increase further, mainly because Europe's population is ageing: by 2035, cancer will be the leading cause of death in the EU. In 2021, the EC published its ‘Europe's Beating Cancer Plan’ (EBCP), calling for a big push in cancer research. Cancer diagnostics and therapeutics should rapidly become more effective and selective, patient-friendly and personalized.

All these goals are directly addressed by developing better tumor targeting strategies. Typically, they consist of equipping diagnostics and therapeutics with a vector unit. The vector unit binds to a protein that is overexpressed on cancer cells or in the Tumor Micro-Environment (TME), causing the diagnostic or therapeutic payload to accumulate in the tumor. Over the last decades, huge effort has gone in approaches that use antibodies as vectors, but return-on-investment has overall been rather poor. Exciting, recent innovations rely on small molecule vectors that target TME proteases. Proteases are ideal candidates for tumor targeting: they are often strongly overexpressed in the TME and possess an active site that allows high-affinity anchoring of vectors. Members of this consortium have played a leading role in these developments.

OncoProTools wants to force breakthroughs in cancer diagnosis and therapy by:
1) Exploring innovative venues for protease targeting in CAR T cell therapy.
2) Discovering novel vectors that bind to other TME proteases: cathepsins S, B, L and granzyme B
3) Personalize applications of protease targeting: deliver innovative diagnostics through deeper understanding of TME biology.

At the same time, OncoProTools will deliver a training program that truly captures the MSCA values, to 10 Doctoral Candidates. They will be provided with all capabilities to become leaders of tomorrow's R&I in Europe.

Coordinador

UNIVERSITEIT ANTWERPEN
Aportación neta de la UEn
€ 525 240,00
Dirección
PRINSSTRAAT 13
2000 Antwerpen
Bélgica

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Región
Vlaams Gewest Prov. Antwerpen Arr. Antwerpen
Tipo de actividad
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Enlaces
Coste total
Sin datos

Participantes (7)

Socios (13)