• What is the problem/issue being addressed?
Cancer is the second highest cause of death in Europe, with 3.7 million estimated new cases and 1.9 million deaths each year. One of the main strategies in recent cancer therapy has been the development of drugs which target multiple cellular proteins at the same time. This strategy aims to block simultaneously different cancer pathways and thus it is expected to avoid the resistance to therapy. The drawback of this strategy is the appearance of side effects which may force a reduction in the dose. Then, it is clear that a better understanding of the targets of a drug is the key for a personalized cancer therapy, since most effective drugs with reduced side effects could be individually selected. This project tries to develop of novel methods based on nanotechnology to detect multiple targets in a single experiment and, in doing so, help fighting cancer.
• Why is it important for society?
The project has developed new tools to better understand cancer disease in a personalized manner, using the new technology of mass cytometry. These tools can contribute to patient´s health by improving diagnostics and prediction of disease outcomes, while informing medical doctors of the sensibility of each patient to a given treatment in a personalized manner. The technology can also help scientist understand the mode-of-action of drugs and why they produce side effects. Early understanding of the disease in a personalized manner means prevention, and prevention means a better management of disease, with more rapid and efficient treatment.
• What are the overall objectives?
The central aim of this research project is to develop a novel method based on nanotechnology and the new technique of mass cytometry to capture the targets of a drug for further analysis. The project objectives are: to synthesise nanoparticles detectable by mass cytometry, to develop a novel assay for mass cytometry analysis and to validate the assay by comparison with conventional methods.
