Project description
Revolutionising cancer treatment with bacteria delivery
Despite the effectiveness of immunotherapeutic strategies in fighting malignancies, there is limited uptake of antibody-based agents in tumours as well as tumour-specific immune escape and suppression mechanisms. This has made it difficult for this therapeutic modality to benefit a larger number of patients. This problem is particularly acute in lung cancer, which is the leading cancer with respect to incidence and mortality. The ERC-funded CL-IO project is seeking to overcome the challenges of delivering immunotherapeutics to the tumour site by incorporating genetically-modified Clostridium bacteria as an effective delivery system. Specifically, the project will investigate the commercial feasibility of this approach and develop a business strategy based on the technological aspects, market needs and trends, as well as potential commercialisation.
Objective
Immunotherapeutic strategies are powerful weapons in combating malignancies. However, only a minority of patients benefit from this therapeutic modality, as tumours develop mechanisms of immune escape and suppression and uptake of (antibody-based) agents in tumors is limited. The urgency of investigating novel strategic approaches is dictated by the high incidence and mortality rates of cancer worldwide. Lung cancer, in particular, is the leading cancer with respect to incidence and mortality (14% of new cancers).
In the ERC Advanced “HYPOXIMMUNO”, Prof. Lambin and his team have investigated the trimodal therapy involving high precision Stereotactic Radiotherapy, hypoxia/necrosis targeting and tumour specific immunotherapy (immunocytokine L19-IL2 to “push the accelerator” with a checkpoint inhibitor to “release the break”). Despite promising results, the delivery of immunotherapeutics to the tumour site has proven to be challenging. Prof. Lambin and his team have sought to overcome this limitation with the inclusion of genetically-modified Clostridium bacteria as optimal delivery system capable of effectively delivering immunotherapeutics within the tumour. These Clostridium-bacteria selectively colonise the hypoxic/necrotic regions present in solid tumours and act as cellular factories capable of continuously producing tumour-specific immunotherapies within the tumour (watch https://vimeo.com/251022032 ).
In this ERC PoC project, a team of technological and commercial experts will investigate the commercial feasibility of this innovative approach. We will prepare the first steps towards the start-up of a spin-off, by defining the exact business strategy, model and positioning for commercial success. We will develop the business strategy based on the technological aspects, the market needs and trends, and the IP-position. During CL-IO, we will gain technical and commercial proof-of-concept, providing the necessary information for potential commercialisation routes.
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.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- social sciencessociologydemographymortality
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologybacteriology
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncologylung cancer
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicineimmunologyimmunotherapy
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Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
ERC-POC - Proof of Concept GrantHost institution
6200 MD Maastricht
Netherlands