Descrizione del progetto
La chiave per sbloccare la risposta immunitaria al cancro potrebbe essere all’orizzonte
L’immunoterapia antitumorale sfrutta il sistema immunitario di una persona per combattere il cancro, stimolando il sistema immunitario del paziente o fornendo componenti artificiali del sistema immunitario. È stata votata come «conquista dell’anno» dalla rivista Science nel 2013. Tuttavia, nonostante il suo potenziale, le percentuali di risposta dei pazienti variano e spesso solo una piccola parte risponde positivamente a un determinato trattamento. L’immunoterapia antitumorale personalizzata potrebbe sbloccare tale potenziale, ma i metodi attuali sono costosi e richiedono molto tempo. Il progetto PeptiCHIP ha sviluppato un sistema per identificare e purificare i neoantigeni specifici del paziente (antigeni di nuova formazione che non sono stati precedentemente riconosciuti dal sistema immunitario) in modo rapido e semplice. I finanziamenti dell’UE stanno aiutando i partner ad affermare l’attività per renderla disponibile a milioni di pazienti in tutto il mondo.
Obiettivo
Immunotherapeutic strategies have emerged as powerful tools to treat many types of cancers. However, the majority of patients still fails to respond to immunotherapies as targetable tumour characteristics vary from patient to patient. Thus, a greater degree of personalisation is required to fine-tune immunotherapies to the specific vulnerabilities of each patient’s tumour. While therapies that target tumour-specific antigens (neoantigens) invoke a strong and specific anti-tumour immune response, we are currently unable to accurately identify patient-specific neoantigens. Current neoantigen identification and purification methods either require impractically large quantities of tumour material or are laborious, expensive, time-consuming (weeks or months) and inaccurate. As part of ERC project PEPTICRAD (2016-2021), Prof. Vincenzo Cerullo at the University of Helsinki has developed a novel microfluidic chip-based device (PeptiCHIP) which condenses the neoantigen purification steps into a single chip capable of accurately analysing minute quantities of human tumour tissue. PeptiCHIP permits cost-effective, rapid, sample-conserving, user-friendly, accurate and standardised tumour neoantigen identification, thereby unleashing the full potential of personalised anti-tumour immunotherapies. In this ERC PoC project, a team of technological and commercial experts will ascertain the technical and commercial viability of the innovative PeptiCHIP device. We will prepare the first steps toward the start-up of a spin-off by defining the most optimal business strategy and model. Furthermore, we will explore the technical potential of the PeptiCHIP and solidify our IP-position. We will develop a solid business strategy based on the technological aspects, the market needs and trends. Finally, during this project we will gain technical and commercial proof-of-concept, providing the necessary information for potential commercialisation routes.
Campo scientifico
Not validated
Not validated
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-POC - Proof of Concept GrantIstituzione ospitante
00014 HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO
Finlandia