Project description
Treatment for oncogene addiction could be on the horizon
Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally and incidence and mortality are increasing. Within the last decade, scientists have discovered what may be the target for a silver bullet in many cases of cancer. While most cancers are characterised by multiple oncogenic mutations, a growing body of evidence demonstrates that many cancers are sensitive to inhibition of a single one of these. The term 'oncogene addiction' was coined to express a cancer's dependency on this single carcinogenic protein or pathway to maintain malignancy. The EU-funded Genetic Vaccine project is exploiting advanced technology to induce targeted mutations in select oncogenes. Effectiveness will be tested in an animal model of cancer.
Objective
Genome editing has enriched our understanding of mechanisms of the human pathology. Genome editing took a significant advance with the recent development of the CRISPR-Cas9 technology. CRISPR is an acronym for: Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats and it is an adaptation of a prokaryotic functional system. It uses a single guide RNA to direct Cas9 activity to a specific part of the genome, therefore, this system can be used for gene editing and regulation.
Cancer is a genetic disease where some DNA-damaged cells begin to divide without stopping and spread into surrounding tissues. Interestingly, in some tumors, there is a dependency of a single oncogenic activity (oncogene addiction). This phenomenon indicates that mutations in key oncogenes (driver mutation) are able to drive carcinogenesis and maintain the tumor phenotype. Suggestively, if we can prevent or disrupt these mutations, we can difficult carcinogenesis or damage an established tumoral phenotype. In this proposal, we seek out for using Crispr-Cas9 technology to target driver mutations and evaluate its therapeutic and preventive value. To develop a proof of concept, we will focus on lung cancer driven by KRAS mutations. The generating of a transgenic mouse expressing Crispr-Cas9 designed to target the mutation Kras C12C will allow us to test the potential cancer-resistant phenotype and raise the concept of Genetic Vaccines.
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 medical biotechnology genetic engineering gene therapy
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology lung cancer
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs vaccines
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics mutation
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pathology
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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-EF-RI - RI – Reintegration panel
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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-2018
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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.
18071 Granada
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.