Project description
Inhibiting cellular 'stickiness' could cure pancreatic and ovarian cancers
Cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) are a class of cell-membrane glycoproteins (proteins with sugar additions) that act like cellular glue. They are involved in functions ranging from maintenance of tissue architecture and cell motility to immunity, as well as signalling. Sometimes, these roles have detrimental effects. For instance, L1CAM is linked to proliferation and metastases in pancreatic and ovarian human cancers. The EU-funded Anti-L1CAM project plans to bring their antibody against L1CAM to market. It has proved efficacious as an anti-cancer therapy in mouse models. Now, with EU support, researchers are developing good manufacturing practices (GMP) to support rigorous testing and gain regulatory approval. Success has the potential to change the outcomes for patients with the poorest prognoses.
Objective
Over 170’000 people in Europe and more than 570’000 people worldwide are affected by pancreatic and ovarian cancer. For pancreatic cancer there currently no efficient therapies available and most patients succumb to the disease within 1 year from diagnosis. In ovarian cancer, first line chemotherapy usually leads to good response rates, however tumors recur in 80-90% of patients and in most cases become resistant to conventional chemotherapy, leading to a low overall 5 year survival rate of only 40%. New effective treatments for pancreatic and ovarian cancer are therefore urgently needed.
Elthera AG is a Biotech Start-up company created in 2016 in Switzerland with the goal of developing an anti-L1CAM antibody as a novel efficacious immunotherapy for the treatment of pancreatic and ovarian cancer. L1 cell adhesion molecule (L1CAM) is an adhesion molecule, which is expressed on pancreatic and ovarian tumors, and also on a variety of other tumor types including lung, breast, colon cancer and others. It has been shown to promote tumor progression by a variety of different mechanisms, e.g. by directly stimulating tumor cell proliferation and the formation of metastases, by promoting angiogenesis in tumors, and by mediating resistance of tumor cells to chemotherapeutic agents.
We have identified a proprietary mouse antibody against L1CAM, which inhibits the cancer-promoting effects of L1CAM, such as tumor cell proliferation and migration and strongly and significantly reduces tumor growth in mouse models of ovarian and pancreatic cancer. The antibody has been humanized and optimized for affinity and stability and is now ready to enter preclinical and clinical development. If funded, the anti-L1CAM project will allow us to establish a GMP manufacturing process and produce a GMP batch of this antibody which will enable preclinical toxicology and clinical safety and efficacy testing.
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.
- natural sciences biological sciences cell biology
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology colorectal cancer
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology immunotherapy
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology pancreatic cancer
- medical and health sciences basic medicine toxicology
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
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.
-
H2020-EU.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme -
H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges
See all projects funded under this programme -
H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
See all projects funded under this programme
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.
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
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-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
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.
8952 Schlieren
Switzerland
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
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.