Project description
Circulating tumour DNA as therapeutic response biomarker
Drugs that inhibit major angiogenic pathways belong to several new anticancer treatment options. Efficient treatment needs accessible biomarkers to control the response to anti-angiogenic therapies. Recent studies discovered that tumour hypoxia causes DNA hypermethylation, and these changes lead to resistance to anti-angiogenic treatment. The EU-funded INITIATOR project aims to validate the hypothesis that methylation patterns detectable in the circulating free DNA (cfDNA) in the plasma of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer can be used to predict early response to anti-angiogenic therapies using a specifically developed cfDNA co-methylation test. The new approach might overcome many of the issues that are currently associated with anti-angiogenic drugs as the cfDNA is readily accessible and can be sampled during initial and follow-up treatment.
Objective
Tumors are characterized by a disorganized vasculature, leading to profound levels of hypoxia. Normalizing the blood vessel formation (angiogenesis) in tumors has therefore become an attractive therapeutic strategy, leading to the development of approved drugs that inhibit major angiogenic pathways. Resistance however restricts the success of these anti-angiogenic drugs in some patients. There is thus a great clinical need for readily accessible markers that serve as reliably predictive biomarkers of anti-angiogenic therapies. However, all markers discovered to date have a limited predictive power. In the ERC Consolidator Grant CHAMELEON, we discovered how tumor hypoxia causes DNA hypermethylation and how changes in DNA methylation underlie resistance to anti-angiogenesis. Here, we propose to validate how methylation patterns detectable in plasma circulating free DNA from a prospective collection of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer can be used to predict an early response to anti-angiogenic therapies by using our in-house developed cfDNA co-methylation test, referred as the ‘INITIATOR’ test. If successful, we anticipate that this project will overcome many of the issues that are currently associated with anti-angiogenic drugs: cfDNA is readily accessible and can be serially sampled during treatment or follow-up, cfDNA also mirrors the entire tumor and not just the biopsied site, while the epigenetic changes detectable in cfDNA may be a dynamic representation of the tumor in response to treatment.
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 genetics DNA
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology colorectal cancer
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.
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.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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.
ERC-POC-LS - ERC Proof of Concept Lump Sum Pilot
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) ERC-2019-PoC
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
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.
9052 ZWIJNAARDE - GENT
Belgium
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.