Objective "Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive disease, accounting for 15-20% of breast cancer cases, but disproportionally causing breast cancer-related death. TNBC does not express the targetable receptors ER, PR, and HER2 that are known to drive other forms of breast cancer. Mainstay practice for TNBC in the clinic is to treat with non-targeted cytotoxic chemotherapies. Long-term outcomes are however still poor, most likely owing to intrinsic drug resistance. Clinical trials have attempted to explore molecular targeted therapies to block dysregulated growth factor receptors in TNBC, for instance, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), as it is overexpressed in ~80% of TNBC. Yet, giving the long-standing availability of clinically approved EGFR-targeted therapies, such as lapatinib, the clinical benefit of single agent therapy is unsatisfactory, owing to the compensatory dysregulated signaling pathways. In our ongoing ERC – Advanced Grant Triple-BC (#322737) we are striving to explore combinatorial molecular targeted therapies to concomitantly block the identified dysregulated signaling pathways. Our preliminary work revealed that an inhibitor targeting cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (CDK9) strikingly synergized with targeting EGFR receptor family signaling to inhibit cell proliferation of TNBC cell lines. The overall goal of this PoC project is to exploit this novel finding and provide proof-of-concept evidence that stalling CDK9 signaling may enable successful targeted combination therapy in TNBC. Therefore, the specific objective is to assess the pharmacological response of dual EGFR-CDK9 targeting in TNBC patient-derived xenograft (PDX) mouse models in vivo. We envisage that this PoC project will translate our identified successful synergistic treatment into an effective future novel and safe combinatorial targeting strategy benefiting TNBC patients." Fields of science medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacydrug resistancemedical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncologybreast cancer Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2017-PoC - ERC-Proof of Concept Call for proposal ERC-2017-PoC See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-POC - Proof of Concept Grant Coordinator ERASMUS UNIVERSITAIR MEDISCH CENTRUM ROTTERDAM Net EU contribution € 90 075,00 Address Dr molewaterplein 40 3015 GD Rotterdam Netherlands See on map Region West-Nederland Zuid-Holland Groot-Rijnmond Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 Beneficiaries (2) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all ERASMUS UNIVERSITAIR MEDISCH CENTRUM ROTTERDAM Netherlands Net EU contribution € 90 075,00 Address Dr molewaterplein 40 3015 GD Rotterdam See on map Region West-Nederland Zuid-Holland Groot-Rijnmond Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN Netherlands Net EU contribution € 59 925,00 Address Rapenburg 70 2311 EZ Leiden See on map Region West-Nederland Zuid-Holland Agglomeratie Leiden en Bollenstreek Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00
