Project description
Immune system versus metastatic cancer cells
One of the hallmarks of cancer is metastasis: the ability of cancer cells to escape the primary tumour, migrate and colonise distant sites. Significant evidence over the years has highlighted the process, yet little is known about how these cells escape immune recognition. The EU-funded EVOMET project is focusing on colorectal cancer, which has a very low survival rate once metastatic. Researchers are working under the hypothesis that metastatic cancer cells escape immune surveillance through the suppression of neoantigens. Being able to quantify the relation between the immune system and tumour cells will pave the way for novel anti-cancer interventions.
Objective
Colorectal cancer is the second most common cancer in Europe, and although screening has drastically increased survival, a fraction of patients still develops metastatic disease. These patients have a 5-year survival rate of 14% compared to 70% for those non-metastatic (SEER 18). For the majority of cases, the primary tumour is successfully resected, but disease relapse arises due to undetectable metastases. How metastatic clones arise within the primary tumor and adapt to their microenvironment acquiring the capacity of colonize new niches remain unknown. In this project, we aim to use evolutionary analysis combined with state of the art high-throughput technologies to analyse the relationship between the immune system and the progression to metastatic disease.
Recently, Zapata and colleagues analysed the relationship between natural selection and the immune system using more than 20 publicly available cancer datasets. The results demonstrated that the presence of neoantigens in the course of tumour development is constrained by the strength of immune activity (immunoediting). In metastasis, malignant clones must escape immune surveillance to colonise new environments. Therefore, we hypothesize that the presence of neoantigens under negative selection in primary tumours will inform us of the cancer cells' ability to disseminate, and ultimately, settle in distant niches. To test our hypothesis, we will develop a patient- specific method to quantify immunoediting across three different cohorts of primary-metastasis matched samples. Ultimately, the extent of immunoediting can be used to explain the underlying causes of metastatic progression allowing, in the future, the development of better treatment strategies.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology colorectal cancer
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2018
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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.
SW7 3RP London
United Kingdom
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.