Project description
Harnessing reactive oxygen species in cancer vaccines
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are chemically reactive molecules derived from oxygen. They exhibit a dual role, contributing to both damage and defence. In immunity, ROS act as molecular alarms that activate immune cells to detect and eliminate cancer. Physical plasma can generate ROS and is thus emerging as a novel therapeutic tool. Plasma exposure induces oxidative stress in cancer cells, altering their surface markers and enhancing immune recognition. Beyond direct killing, ROS also oxidise biomolecules released by dying cells and amplify immune activation. The ERC-funded PriME project aims to generate a therapeutic anticancer vaccine that is based on plasma-oxidised cancer cell lysates.
Objective
Efficient anticancer immune effects are a prime medical discovery of this century. Molecular alarms drive such immune responses, signaling priming and effector cells to action. Several approaches are studied or clinically used to initiate or support such action. Yet, the perhaps evolutionary old and most conserved mechanism has been mostly off the map so far: reactive oxygen species (Physical-technical applications extend into medicine for diagnostics and also therapies, such as: cancer treatment. Tumor cells present various receptors on the cell surface, and immune cells can interact with these receptors to decide whether a cell should be eliminated or not. Therapies or other external influences can change the spectrum of the presented receptors and thus the interaction, aiming to stimulate an immune response. Once a tumor cell gets identified as harmful, an immune response is initiated to recruit cytotoxic T cells and other adaptive immune cells to reduce tumor growth. Physical plasmas are therapeutic and have antimicrobial efficacy and cancer-killing effects. Plasmas can be generated to operate at low temperatures, which enables them for medical applications, and produced reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS) mainly induce biomedical effects. In tumor cells, plasma treatment leads to redox stress, followed by altered surface marker expression, which has immune-stimulating properties. However, ROS are not absent when the tumor cell dies, and further ROS-mediated mechanisms, such as oxidation of released biomolecules, continue. I hypothesize that immune-stimulatory properties of plasma are combinatory effects of molecular changes and biomolecule oxidation, suggesting that a standardized plasma treatment with maximized ROS, more precisely radical production, optimizes biomolecule oxidation and immunological consequences. My vision is to establish a novel approach to plasma-treated cancers by oxidizing cancer lysates with plasma for use as a therapeutic vaccine.
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 chemical sciences electrochemistry electrolysis
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs vaccines
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology
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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.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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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.
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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 - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-STG
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17489 Greifswald
Germany
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