Dissecting the role of the immune microenvironment in the onset of myelodysplastic syndromes

Project Information

DRIMMS

Grant agreement ID: 101110212

DOI

10.3030/101110212

Project terminated on 10 January 2024

EC signature date 12 April 2023

Start date 1 September 2023

End date 31 August 2025

Funded under

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 181 152,96

Coordinated by

FUNDACION PARA LA INVESTIGACION MEDICA APLICADA FIMA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DRIMMS (Dissecting the role of the immune microenvironment in the onset of myelodysplastic syndromes)

Reporting period: 2023-09-01 to 2025-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are heterogeneous age-related blood cancers that are incurable by currently approved drugs. The mechanisms that allow tumoral MDS cells to expand and survive in patients’ bone marrows are not fully understood, particularly how patients’ immune systems permit the development of the disease. This information will be key to understand whether new treatment strategies for boosting antitumoral immune responses can be developed. The goal of this project was to characterize MDS patients’ antitumoral immune response by comparing the characteristics of patients’ immune cells with those of healthy individuals’. I proposed to analyze the identity, quantity and functionality of immune cell subsets isolated from patients and age-matched healthy donors as well as their interactions with tumoral cells. I expect my results to reveal immune mechanisms that allow the survival and proliferation of MDS cells and to provide a rationale for the development of novel therapies to eliminate them.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In order to characterize immune cells in the bone marrow of both MDS patients and healthy donors, I proposed to perform state-of-the-art analyses that can provide information of the identity and state of single cells within a large cell population, therefore allowing the assessment of both qualitative and quantitative (distribution within the population) features. In the first 4 months of this proposal, I performed a proof-of-principle pilot study in bone marrow cells from 2 healthy donors and successfully set up the technical and analytical details of the experiment, confirming that I can indeed perform a high-throughput analysis in bone marrow specimens and detect sufficient numbers of all major immune cell types with a high-enough resolution to delve deeper into cell subpopulations. I also collected bone marrow plasma samples for a later analysis of the plasma protein landscape of patients and healthy donors.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

I expect the progress made in this project to be the starting point for the proposed experiments, which will still be carried out in my laboratory beyond termination of the project. Completion of the project’s aims will significantly advance our understanding of the role of immune evasion in the development of myeloid neoplasms such as MDS and provide novel therapeutic targets for immune reprogramming or immune cell therapy in MDS patients.

DRIMMS Timeline