Project description
Expanding tumour-reactive infiltrating lymphocytes
Tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are immune cells that migrate into tumours and can recognise and kill cancer cells. Their use in adoptive cell therapy has shown promise, especially in melanoma, where TIL-based treatment recently received FDA approval. However, selectively expanding the TILs that truly target cancer cells remains a major challenge. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the ExpandTILs project proposes to reprogramme patient-derived tumour cells as antigen-presenting cells to selectively expand tumour-reactive TILs. Researchers will generate proof-of-evidence for this novel TIL expansion platform, hoping to offer personalised anti-cancer treatment and transform immunotherapy.
Objective
Cancer affects 2.6 million people each year in the European Union, making it the second leading cause of death. Immunotherapies have revolutionized the treatment of cancer, seeking to re-arm immune cells against tumors. However, current immunotherapies are mostly inefficient in low immunogenic and solid tumors, which account for more than 80% of cancers in adults. A promising approach is to collect tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) from patient’s resected tumor tissue, and expand their function in vitro before reinjecting them to achieve antitumor immunity. This therapy is currently involved in many clinical trials and received a first FDA approval in 2024 for advanced melanoma treatment. Yet, a major challenge remains to amplify the diversity of tumor reactive TILs rather than the non-specific TILs.
The aim of the ExpandTILs project is to selectively amplify tumor-reactive TILs to enable personalized, targeted and effective tumor killing. I will use the unique system designed by the host team, reprogramming the patient tumor cells into antigen presenting dendritic cells, to amplify tumor reactive TILs. I will establish an optimized coculture protocol with reprogrammed cancer cells to expand antigen-specific TILs, then train in cutting-edge techniques to characterize and compare their antitumor efficacy to standard-of-care TILs. This interdisciplinary approach, combining cellular reprogramming with cancer immunology, will increase our knowledge about tumor-specific TILs responses and allow us to obtain the proof-of-concept for a tumor reactive TILs expansion platform. This should lead to the creation of a new company, allowing me to learn how to bring new technologies to clinic. Therefore, this fellowship will significantly contribute to my professional growth by allowing me to develop complementary skills in project management, leadership, communication, and entrepreneurship.
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.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
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.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
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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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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
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.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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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) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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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.
22100 Lund
Sweden
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