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Study the therapeutic and preventive potential of targeting oncogenic mutations with CRISPR-Cas9 technology

Project description

Treatment for oncogene addiction could be on the horizon

Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally and incidence and mortality are increasing. Within the last decade, scientists have discovered what may be the target for a silver bullet in many cases of cancer. While most cancers are characterised by multiple oncogenic mutations, a growing body of evidence demonstrates that many cancers are sensitive to inhibition of a single one of these. The term 'oncogene addiction' was coined to express a cancer's dependency on this single carcinogenic protein or pathway to maintain malignancy. The EU-funded Genetic Vaccine project is exploiting advanced technology to induce targeted mutations in select oncogenes. Effectiveness will be tested in an animal model of cancer.

Objective

Genome editing has enriched our understanding of mechanisms of the human pathology. Genome editing took a significant advance with the recent development of the CRISPR-Cas9 technology. CRISPR is an acronym for: Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats and it is an adaptation of a prokaryotic functional system. It uses a single guide RNA to direct Cas9 activity to a specific part of the genome, therefore, this system can be used for gene editing and regulation.
Cancer is a genetic disease where some DNA-damaged cells begin to divide without stopping and spread into surrounding tissues. Interestingly, in some tumors, there is a dependency of a single oncogenic activity (oncogene addiction). This phenomenon indicates that mutations in key oncogenes (driver mutation) are able to drive carcinogenesis and maintain the tumor phenotype. Suggestively, if we can prevent or disrupt these mutations, we can difficult carcinogenesis or damage an established tumoral phenotype. In this proposal, we seek out for using Crispr-Cas9 technology to target driver mutations and evaluate its therapeutic and preventive value. To develop a proof of concept, we will focus on lung cancer driven by KRAS mutations. The generating of a transgenic mouse expressing Crispr-Cas9 designed to target the mutation Kras C12C will allow us to test the potential cancer-resistant phenotype and raise the concept of Genetic Vaccines.

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MSCA-IF-EF-RI - RI – Reintegration panel

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2018

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Coordinator

UNIVERSIDAD DE GRANADA
Net EU contribution

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.

€ 160 932,48
Address
CUESTA DEL HOSPICIO SN
18071 GRANADA
Spain

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Region
Sur Andalucía Granada
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

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.

€ 160 932,48
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