Objective
Primary liver cancer is the third cause of cancer-related death worldwide with about 900 000 new cases and 830 000 deaths worldwide each year and a 5-year survival of only 20%. Current systemic treatments, including checkpoint inhibitors and tyrosine kinase inhibitors, benefit only a minority of patients, and around 70% of FGF19-positive HCCs remain refractory to immunotherapy. In this PoC project, LiveRNA will develop a first-in-class liver-targeted mRNA platform. It will combine mRNA-cGAS with a hepatocyte-specific IL-2 mRNA construct. This construct reprograms dysfunctional intrahepatic CD8 T-cells into potent antitumor effectors. LiveRNA will demonstrate the safety and antitumoral activity of the mRNA-cGAS/mRNA-IL-2 combination in stringent preclinical models, benchmark it against standard of care, and define the most promising HCC (and related liver tumour) subtypes for clinical translation. We will also provide a rationale for patient selection and future combination regimens. In parallel, the LiveRNA team will consolidate a freedom-to-operate-based IP position on mRNA-cGAS and IL-2-mRNA, establish a dedicated spin-off company, LiveRNA, and engage with investors and industrial partners to accelerate first-in-human development of this scalable, low-dose, liver-specific immunotherapy for patients with otherwise untreatable HCC.
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 clinical medicine oncology liver cancer
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology immunotherapy
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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)
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.
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-2026-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.
20132 Milano
Italy
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.