Project description
Innovative idea for advanced melanoma treatment employing a nanocarrier platform
The critical challenge in drug delivery, and particularly in cancer immunotherapy, is how to deliver drugs to the desired site of therapeutic action while minimising side effects. The aim of the EU-funded POLYMMUNE project is to evaluate the technical and commercial viability of the novel polymeric nanocarrier platform developed during the previous MyNano project for targeted drug delivery. As proof of concept, researchers focus on immunotherapy for metastatic melanoma. Commercially available antigens against metastatic melanoma coupled to the developed nanocarrier will activate a broad immune response, creating an effective cancer vaccine targeting different melanoma types. This technology has the potential to become a method of choice for drug delivery in medical applications, including cancer immunotherapy and neurodegenerative diseases.
Objective
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.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
ERC-POC - Proof of Concept GrantHost institution
46012 Valencia
Spain