Descripción del proyecto
Un concepto innovador para el tratamiento del melanoma avanzado con una plataforma de nanotransportadores
Uno de los principales retos de la administración de medicamentos, y en concreto en la inmunoterapia antineoplásica, es cómo administrar medicamentos en el lugar deseado de acción terapéutica y, al mismo tiempo, minimizar los efectos secundarios. El objetivo del proyecto financiado con fondos europeos POLYMMUNE es evaluar la viabilidad técnica y comercial de una nueva plataforma de nanotransportadores poliméricos desarrollada durante MyNano, el proyecto predecesor, para la administración dirigida de medicamentos. Los investigadores estudiarán la inmunoterapia para el melanoma metastásico como prueba de concepto. La combinación de antígenos disponibles comercialmente contra el melanoma metastásico con el nanotransportador desarrollado activará una respuesta inmunitaria prolongada, lo que proporcionará una vacuna antineoplásica eficaz dirigida a diferentes tipos de melanoma. Esta tecnología podría convertirse en el método de elección para la administración de medicamentos en aplicaciones médicas como, por ejemplo, la inmunoterapia antineoplásica y las enfermedades neurodegenerativas.
Objetivo
Despite various existing drug delivery methods, the key challenge remains: how to deliver drugs to the desired site of therapeutic action to achieve best treatment outcome, while minimising side effects? This is even more challenging in cancer immunotherapy as a complex interplay of immune reactions need to be activated. POLYMMUNE will evaluate the technical and commercial viability of our novel polymeric nanocarrier platform (developed during my ERC Consolidator grant MyNano) for targeted drug delivery of a wide variety of diseases and therapeutics. As proof of concept, we will focus on immunotherapy delivery for metastatic melanoma. Globally ~132,000 new melanoma cases will be diagnosed each year and despite recent successes, only 50% of the patients respond to novel immunotherapies that are costly, while causing severe side effects. Coupling a commercially available antigen against metastatic melanoma to our nanocarrier will activate a broad immune response, resulting in an effective cancer vaccine that potentially targets different melanoma types, enabling off-the-shelf production. This dual action will lead to increased clinical benefit, which will come with less side effects and will be 5-10-fold cheaper than current treatments. Additionally, our conjugate is industrially scalable and thus overcome a major bottle neck of current nanocarrier-based medicine. We envision our platform technology to be used as a method of choice for drug delivery in many medical applications, such as cancer immunotherapy and neurodegenerative diseases. These applications are within reach, as depending on the modification, our conjugates can e.g. bypass the blood brain barrier and potentially be administered intranasally (nanogel). Our platform offers a highly attractive business case, as biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies heavily invest in nanoconjugates due to the need for novel drug delivery strategies.
Ámbito científico
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
ERC-POC - Proof of Concept GrantInstitución de acogida
46012 Valencia
España