Descrizione del progetto
Biomarcatori nanomeccanici per un miglior trattamento antitumorale personalizzato
I tumori sono strutture estremamente eterogenee che presentano variazioni tra tipologie diverse ma anche tra tumori dello stesso tipo e in base al grado di progressione. Molti tumori solidi si induriscono man mano che crescono all’interno del tessuto di un ospite. L’indurimento è dovuto all’incremento dei componenti strutturali del tumore, inoltre le forze meccaniche generate all’interno del tumore comprimono i vasi sanguigni intratumorali: tutto ciò porta a una carente distribuzione dei farmaci. Studi recenti hanno dimostrato che la strategia di alleggerimento delle sollecitazioni, per mezzo di agenti antifibrotici, favorisce l’ammorbidimento del tumore e migliora la somministrazione farmacologica, rendendo la terapia più efficace. Il progetto CancerFingerPrints, finanziato dall’UE, si avvarrà della microscopia a forza atomica per sviluppare biomarcatori nanomeccanici per la quantificazione delle caratteristiche meccaniche tumorali.
Obiettivo
In the fight against cancer, it is well recognized that tumors are highly heterogeneous and they might differ considerably not only between tumors types but also among tumors of the same type or even for the same tumor during progression. As a result, the efficacy of standard cancer chemotherapies varies, and while some patients respond to a particular treatment, other patients do not gain any benefit and in many cases, the condition of the patient deteriorates due to adverse effects. Consequently, crucial in cancer therapy is the prediction of a patient’s response to treatment. Failure of standard therapies has led to the introduction of a new era of personalized, patient-specific treatments, which are based on the identification of biomarkers that characterize the state of a particular tumor. Many solid tumors (e.g. breast cancers and sarcomas) stiffen as they grow in a host’s normal tissue. Stiffening is caused by an increase in the structural components of the tumor. As tumor tissue becomes stiffer, mechanical forces are generated within the tumor, that cause the compression of intratumoral blood vessels, resulting in compromised vessel functionality, which leads to poor drug delivery and therapeutic outcomes. Recently, it has been demonstrated that “stress-alleviation” strategy, which uses anti-fibrotic agents to promote tumor softening, improves uniform delivery of drugs and enhances therapy. Here, we propose the use of state-of-the-art Atomic Force Microscopy-AFM techniques for the development of a NanoMechanical biomarker, which will quantify the mechanical FingerPrints of Cancer. This biomarker will aim to: (i)predict the patient’s response to treatment with chemotherapy and (ii)monitor treatment outcomes, in the case of strategies that target tumor mechanical properties (e.g. stress-alleviation therapy). Furthermore, we propose to develop an AFM-based software product to be used as a commercial tool for the measurement of the NanoMechanical biomarker.
Campo scientifico
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-POC - Proof of Concept GrantIstituzione ospitante
1678 Nicosia
Cipro