Can sneaky signposts help blood vessels improve cancer immunotherapy?
Cancer types:
General cancer research
Project period:
–
Research institute:
Fima Fundación Para la Investigación Médica Aplicada
Award amount:
£188,534
Location:
Spain
Dr Alvaro Teijeira and his team in Spain are developing a way to improve immunotherapy treatments by making it easier for immune cells to sneak into tumours through the walls of blood vessels. This work has the potential to boost the power of immunotherapy treatments for more people, and improve outcomes for people with cancer.
Why is this research needed?
Immunotherapies work by unleashing the power of our own immune system to fight cancer. But unfortunately they do not always work, and some people do not benefit from treatment. One reason for this seems to be that cancer-killing immune cells and molecules cannot always penetrate the tumour. This means that cancer cells located deep inside the tumour can sometimes escape treatment.
Dr Teijeira and his team are using Curestarter funding to develop new molecules that could stick to the walls of blood vessels like tiny signposts, and guide immune cells into the tumour. Their aim is to develop a new kind of treatment that could be used alongside immunotherapies to improve their ability to destroy cancer, and help more people.
Cancer is a worldwide disease, influenced by genetics, cultural habits, and environmental factors that shape how tumours develop and respond to treatment. Addressing this complexity requires international collaboration—only by working together across borders can we truly tackle these challenges.
What is the science behind this project?
We need a blood supply to survive, and so do tumours. Tiny blood vessels often run deep into their centre, helping deliver the nutrients and oxygen that they need. But Dr Teijeira and his team want to turn these blood vessels against the tumour. To do this they are developing small protein molecules that can stick to the walls inside them, which will attract cancer-killing immune cells, and make it easier for them to pass right through the walls into the tumour.
The immune cells should then be able to enter deeper into the tumour, and target more cancer cells. During this project the team will test this idea by engineering dozens of new molecules. They will then screen the molecules to find which ones are best able to attract immune cells, and help them to pass through layers of cells. The best performing molecules will then be tested in mice with different types of cancer.
The team will also explore whether the new treatment could potentially be delivered using cutting-edge mRNA vaccine technology, which was first developed to deliver one of the COVID vaccines.
What difference could this project make to patients in the future?
This project is very exciting for many reasons. Alongside developing a new way to boost immunotherapy, the team also hope that their work will demonstrate a completely different and more efficient way to develop novel treatments.
Ultimately, the team hope to end up with prototypes of a new treatment that could be used alongside immunotherapies, and help to improve their effectiveness in cancer.
This project also has huge potential to help people with other immune-related conditions - including autoimmune conditions and inflammatory disease.
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