Project description
Immune platform for improved adoptive cell therapy
Adoptive cell therapy (ACT) is a type of immunotherapy using mainly donor-derived cells which are modified and expanded outside the body, and then reinfused into the patient to help fight diseases like cancer. The most well-known ACT is chimeric antigen receptor-T cell therapy which exhibits T cell exhaustion issues during ex vivo expansion, leading to dysfunctional T cells. To overcome this problem, the ERC-funded Tune-IT project will develop an artificial antigen-presenting cell platform to enhance T cell expansion efficiently. Researchers will validate the platform’s ability to maintain T cell function, improve patient outcomes and assess commercial viability.
Objective
Adoptive cell therapy (ACT) recently became an important treatment modality for cancer . Since 2017, several chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapies approved by the FDA/EMA and more are expected to receive approval for clinical use. Currently, more than 250 clinical ACT trials are ongoing. Already in 2021, the market size was >$1 billion and is expected to grow tremendously to >$25 billion by 2030. ACT products require extensive ex vivo manipulation and expansion of patient derived T cells prior to reinfusion back into patients to attack cancer cells. Unfortunately, T cell exhaustion and loss of function after reinfusion form a major problem in currently used ex vivo expansion protocols.
The solution.
Dedicated tuning of T cells during ex vivo expansion to preserve their anti- cancer function and prevent exhaustion. In the body, T cells are activated by antigen presenting cells (APC) to initiate an immune response. As patient-derived APC are often immunosuppressed, much effort is spent on developing 'artificial antigen presenting cells' (aAPC) to expand immune cells for ACT. We developed a unique polymeric aAPC platform, termed immunofilaments, that provide a highly flexible-, scalable-, GMP compliant- and affordable- solution for robust production of T cells for ACT. Our initial findings indeed indicate that we can diminish T cell exhaustion and outcompete products currently used in the clinic for ex vivo T cell expansion.
Tune-IT will validate the technical and commercial feasibility of this novel technology platform that exploits immunofilaments to significantly improve function and longevity of ACT products in patients.
In Tune-IT, we will: 1) demonstrate that tuning of ex vivo cultured therapeutic T cells will prevent exhaustion and loss of tumor killing capacity after reinfusing T cells and 2) perform market and business case analyses to ensure commercial feasibility and market entry through Simmunext Biotherapeutics, a Radboudumc spin-off
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.
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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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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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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-ERC-POC - HORIZON ERC Proof of Concept Grants
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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-2023-POC
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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.
6525 GA NIJMEGEN
Netherlands
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.