Project description
Improvement of tumour-targeting specificity and treatment initialisation
Prompt cancer diagnosis and treatment initialisation are closely linked to disease outcome. The EU-funded SPOT project is developing an innovative approach for cancer imaging and treatment that exploits the combinatorial use of small antibody fragments and nanoparticles. The small antibody fragments, which exhibit highly specific targeting capacities and are capable of deep tissue penetration, will serve as guides for bioimaging and drug-delivering nanoparticles. Click reactions between moieties attached to small antibody fragments and nanoparticles ensure the specific visualisation of tumor tissue as well as delivery of nanoparticle payload at the tumour site. The SPOT approach is expected to overcome the limitations associated with the direct conjugation of drugs, imaging probes or drug-delivering nanoparticles to antibodies, offering an advanced strategy for tumour imaging and treatment. The approach also intents to achieve a crucial time gain between diagnosis and treatment initialisation.
Objective
To overcome size-related drawbacks of intact antibodies (Ab) for active tumor targeting, small but multivalent Ab-fragments, which fall in the “ideal tumor targeting zone”, are gaining increasing interest. However, the achieved benefits of Ab-fragments are lost when conjugated to imaging probes or drug carriers. Therefore, the SPOT action is going to focus on the generation of small Ab-fragments with highly specific targeting capacities and deep tissue penetration that are able to subsequently undergo a bioorthogonal click reaction at the tumor site. As cancer model, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), which currently still has an extremely poor prognosis, is going to be targeted. Two different click reaction will be evaluated: The cycloaddition between tetrazine and trans-cyclooctene (TCO) as well as azide and dibenzocyclooctyne (DBCO), whereby the Ab-fragments are functionalized with the TCO and DBCO groups. The opponent moieties are attached to alginate and hyaluronic acid-based ligands, which are subsequently introduced to the nanoparticle’s (NP) surface, additionally providing shielding from the immunological system. After the accumulation of the clickable Ab-fragments at the tumor site and their clearance from healthy tissue, the imaging or drug-delivering NPs with the opponent clickable moieties are injected, allowing for their exclusive accumulation at the pretargeted tumor site. For effective visualization of PDAC tissue, state-of-the-art silver sulfide NPs, with a high contrast-to-noise ratio and deep tissue imaging, are applied. The use of these NPs can be a significant step towards early PDCA diagnosis and therefore providing better chances for a positive treatment outcome. For the pretargeted drug-delivery approach, poly(lactic acid)-based NPs with encapsulated gemcitabine or docetaxel generated via electrospraying are going to be tested as a potential chemotherapeutic approach for PDAC, preforming small animal in vivo studies with PDAC xenografts.
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 clinical medicine oncology prostate cancer
- natural sciences chemical sciences organic chemistry organic acids
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry transition metals
- engineering and technology nanotechnology nano-materials
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology pancreatic cancer
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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.
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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 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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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-2019
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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.
28040 MADRID
Spain
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.