Project description
Streamlined discovery of drugs and linkers supports targeted immunotherapy
Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) – precision cancer treatments that use antibodies to deliver toxic drugs directly to tumour cells – have emerged as one of oncology’s most promising recent advances. Several ADCs have been commercialised but their production remains costly and slow, and guidelines are limited regarding increasing efficacy and safety. The ERC-funded MuSyC project aims to transform ADC development through ‘multicomponent synthetic conjugation’ which relies on multicomponent reactions to construct and attach functional components to antibodies in a single step. Supported by the development of DNA-based tools, it will speed the discovery of many more drug and linker combinations, enhance understanding of their key features and accelerate the development of improved next-generation ADCs.
Objective
Cancer remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide and in Europe in particular. In the continuous fight against this disease, the recent emergence of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) has unveiled tremendous hope for the patients. Composed of an antibody that binds cancer cells selectively, ADCs are capable of delivering a cytotoxic drug into tumors selectively, resulting in targeted cell death. Even though a dozen ADCs has already been marketed, they are still extremely expensive and time-consuming to produce. Besides, their development still lacks guiding principles to maximize their efficacy and increase their safety. At the moment, ADCs share the same structural canvas and are produced through the one- or two-step conjugation of antibodies, using a narrow set of linkers and drugs. These limitations represent a major barrier to innovation and to breakthroughs in this yet booming field, preventing the emergence of next-generation ADCs. My proposal to address these challenges is to focus on the bioconjugation step and use it as a chemical step toward the synthesis of valuable motifs. Using a novel chemical approach coined Multicomponent Synthetic Conjugation (MuSyC), I propose to use multicomponent reactions to construct and conjugate valuable motifs at the same time on antibodies, and expand the chemical space of bioconjugation. I will apply this strategy to selected cytotoxic drugs and peptide linkers, in order to streamline the development of the next generation of toxic immunoconjugates. In addition, I will also develop DNA-based tools to guide the discovery of site-selective conjugation reactions. This project will lead to next generations of toxic antibody conjugates, augment the current limited repertoire of approved drugs and linkers, while providing a better understanding of their key structural features.
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.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
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.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics DNA
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology immunotherapy
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)
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 - HORIZON ERC 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-2025-COG
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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.
75794 PARIS
France
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