Project description
Regulatory T cell based predictive biomarkers of cancer immunotherapy response
The advent of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) targeting regulatory pathways in T cells to ignite antitumour immune responses has revolutionised cancer immunotherapy. However, a significant proportion of patients do not develop a response, or it is accompanied by life-threatening autoimmunity, manifesting as immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Predictive biomarkers of clinical responses and new therapeutic strategies to harness antitumour immunity represent an urgent unmet need. The regulatory T cells (Tregs) are a subpopulation of T cells that modulate the immune system responses. The EU-funded RegSign project will create a 'liquid biopsy' of Tregs for the prediction of ICI efficacy and development of irAEs. Decoding Tregs' signatures in cancer will lead to predictive biomarkers and novel targets for cancer immunotherapy.
Objective
The advent of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), that target regulatory pathways in T cells to unleash antitumor immune responses, has revolutionized cancer immunotherapy. However, despite the enormous success of ICI in the treatment of cancer, a significant proportion of patients do not respond, while responses are frequently accompanied by life-threatening autoimmune related adverse events (irAEs). Predictive biomarkers of clinical responses and new therapeutic strategies to harness anti-tumor immunity, while keeping autoimmunity in check represent a currently unmet need. Tregs, are an ideal candidate, since they are physiologically engaged in maintenance of self-tolerance, are the dominant suppressive population in the tumor microenvironment (TME), promote tumor growth, correlate with poor prognosis and importantly, represent a fundamental impediment of cancer immunotherapy success. Building upon my extensive expertise on Tregs in autoimmunity and cancer, the abundance of circulating Tregs in cancer patients, and preliminary data demonstrating a robust transcriptomic and metabolic reprogramming of circulating Tregs in advanced melanoma patients experiencing irAEs, RegSign proposes: 1) to integrate single cell mass-cytometric, transcriptomic, metabolic and stability analysis of circulating Tregs to create a “liquid biopsy” for prediction of ICI efficacy and irAEs development, 2) to identify novel Treg-based therapeutic targets via innovative humanized patient derived xenograft models and 3) to modulate Treg metabolic checkpoints for the management of irAEs. Decoding Tregs signatures in cancer will empower the discovery of personalized predictive biomarkers and novel targets for cancer immunotherapy.
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 skin cancer melanoma
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology immunotherapy
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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.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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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
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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-STG - Starting Grant
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2020-STG
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115 27 ATHINA
Greece
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