Active

Could a new molecular tool improve the effectiveness of radiotherapy?

Cancer types:

General cancer research

Project period:

Research institute:

L'Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale, Strasbourg

Award amount:

£272,915

Location:

France

Researcher Dr Gertraud Orend

Dr Orend and her team are using a new molecular tool to investigate whether targeting the molecules surrounding tumours could help to reduce the chance of cancer coming back after radiotherapy. 

Hope for the future

Radiotherapy is an important and effective cancer treatment. In the UK, over 100,000 courses of radiotherapy are given every year. But while radiotherapy is generally very good at eliminating cancer, for some people it can cause unwanted immune effects in the region targeted by treatment. These effects may encourage cancer to return later. 

If Dr Orend can find a way to block these troublesome immune effects, it could be the first step towards a new targeted treatment for patients undergoing radiotherapy treatment. 

Meet the scientist

Gertraud enjoys hiking and biking whenever possible. She also likes visiting art exhibitions, traveling around the world and painting. 

The science

Tumours tend to grow in 'nests' that are surrounded by a structure called the extracellular matrix. Although radiotherapy is very effective at killing tumour cells, it can also sometimes cause molecular changes in the matrix that reduce the effectiveness of immune cells in the area. This can be a problem, and may even sometimes encourage tumours to regrow. 

Dr Orend and her team are interested in one particular molecule that is highly present in the matrix that appears to control some of these changes, called tenascinC. The team has developed a special molecular tool called a ‘peptide’, which can interfere with interactions between tenascin-C and other molecules stimulating anti-tumor immunity. With funding from you, they now want to test this tool on models of breast tumours and tongue tumours in the lab, as these are both cancers that often need radiotherapy treatment. 

The aim is to find out if using this approach could help to activate immune cells in the matrix after radiotherapy, and reduce the risk of tumours coming back. If so, the researchers can then begin to design a targeted therapy for patients who need radiotherapy. 

I am very grateful to all Curestarters for supporting my research. Without your funding this research project would not be possible. 

Dr Gertraud Orend

Related projects

Active Spain

Lung cancer

How do cancer cells modify white blood cells to help tumours grow?

Researchers want to help immunotherapy work for more cancer patients by understanding how cancers hijack our immune system and preventing this happening 

Researcher: Dr Andrés Hidalgo

Understanding how cancer cells modify white blood cells to help tumours grow

Active United Kingdom

General cancer research

Can we stop cancer becoming resistant to chemotherapy?

Chemotherapy can sometimes stop working, so this project is hoping to better understand why and find ways to give more, better options to cancer patients.

Researcher: Dr Andrew Beekman

Stopping cancer becoming resistant to chemotherapy

Active United Kingdom

General cancer research

Can we predict which patients will respond to immunotherapy?

This project hopes to open up exciting possibilities for personalised cancer treatment by finding how to predict which patients will respond best to treatment.

Researcher: Professor Tim Elliott

Finding ways to predict which patients will respond to immunotherapy
Share this page