Objective This proposal originates from recent results obtained in the course of the Advanced ERC Project “OMVac”, the scope of which is to exploit the unique adjuvanticity properties of bacterial Outer Membrane Vesicles (OMVs) for developing innovative vaccines against infectious diseases and cancer. In particular, Synthetic Biology was applied to engineer OMVs with FAT1, a tumour associated antigen expressed in most primary and metastatic colorectal cancers (CRC). Using cancer models in immunocompetent mice, immunization with FAT1-decorated OMVs inhibited subcutaneous growth of FAT1-positive CT26 cancer cells and protection correlated with an increase in tumour infiltration of CD4+/CD8+ T cells and concomitant decrease of Treg and MDSCs. These promising results prompted the submission of the present proposal which has as main objectives: 1) the demonstration that FAT1-OMV immunization can synergise with the protective activity of checkpoint inhibitors, and 2) the development of a scalable FAT1-OMV production and purification process which could allow testing FAT1-OMV/checkpoint inhibitor combination in the clinical setting. Fields of science medical and health sciencesbasic medicineimmunologyimmunisationmedical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseasesmedical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacypharmaceutical drugsvaccinesmedical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncologycolorectal cancermedical and health sciencesbasic medicineimmunologyimmunotherapy 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 UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI TRENTO Net EU contribution € 93 750,00 Address Via calepina 14 38122 Trento Italy See on map Region Nord-Est Provincia Autonoma di Trento Trento 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 UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI TRENTO Italy Net EU contribution € 93 750,00 Address Via calepina 14 38122 Trento See on map Region Nord-Est Provincia Autonoma di Trento Trento 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 FONDAZIONE TOSCANA LIFE SCIENCES Italy Net EU contribution € 56 250,00 Address Via fiorentina 1 53100 Siena See on map Region Centro (IT) Toscana Siena Activity type Research Organisations 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