Project description
Light to boost immunotherapy against lung cancer
Photopharmacology, the use of light to switch drug activity on or off, holds significant promise for therapeutic innovation. Incorporating light-responsive motifs into a drug molecule facilitates its targeted activation in illuminated tissues only, minimising systemic exposure and side effects. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the LIGHTER project will implement a similar approach to generate light-controllable peptides that activate the immune system and enhance dendritic cell (DC) immunotherapy. The idea is that, apart from cancer cell death, these peptides will be used to prepare exosomes or cancer cell lysates that are loaded into patient-derived DCs to strengthen the immune response. Researchers will optimise the therapy’s safety and efficacy in cell and animal models.
Objective
Project LIGHTHER (LIGHt-boosted THERapy) focuses on basic studies and early preclinical development of a groundbreaking therapy for one of the deadliest human diseases - lung cancer. The therapy includes in-patient activation of the immune system by light-controllable cytotoxic peptides, ex vivo loading of the patient’s dendritic cells (DCs) with exosomes or cancer cell lysates obtained using the same peptides, and treatment of the patients with the loaded DCs. Optimisation of efficacy and safety planned as the main outcome of the Project will pave the way for future preclinical and clinical studies of a radically novel, photosensitive drug. The main impact of the LIGHTHER Project in the long run will be creating a market segment for photopharmacology-based therapies. The participating institutions are complementary in their expertise, which will be transferred between them through secondments, research, and training. Lumobiotics, a small and medium enterprise (SME) with experience in drug development, will coordinate the scientific work; Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv will focus on the preparation and analysis of the peptides and contribute its expertise in DC-based immunotherapy; SME Bienta and Amsterdam University Medical Center will do the in vitro and in vivo preclinical research. Six work packages are planned: 1) investigation of the immunogenic potential of light-controllable peptides; 2) evaluation of safety of the treatment by light-controllable peptides; 3) study of the DC activation by cancer cells treated by light-controllable peptides; 4) in vivo testing of the combination therapy on a lung cancer rodent model; 5) synthesis, laboratory scale peptide production, and analytics; 6) communication, dissemination, and management. The participating institutions will collaborate toward advancing the therapy to clinical applications, during the Project and after its completion.
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.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy drug discovery
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology lung cancer
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules
- natural sciences biological sciences cell biology
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology immunotherapy
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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.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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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.
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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) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-SE-01
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1081 HV Amsterdam
Netherlands
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