Physical Health Switzerland Project #23746

Support cancer research and make a difference

by Krebsforschung Schweiz / Swiss Cancer Research

Support cancer research and make a difference

Project Report | Oct 4, 2017
Making progress towards improved treatments

By Peggy Janich | Project Leader

Immunotherapy is becoming a treatment option for a growing number of patients suffering from various types of cancers. For some patients this therapy is truly life changing as it offers them not only the chance to live longer but also better. This new wave of success of cancer immunotherapies builds on the joint efforts of all basic, translational and clinical researchers who continuously investigate with the aim to gain more insight into this highly promising treatment modality.

Today we would like to provide you with another brief insight into two projects supported by the Swiss Cancer Research foundation.

Project 1: Development of novel targeted immunotherapies for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer

In this project, the researchers will use a mouse tumor model that mimics human lung cancer to investigate the therapeutic activity of molecules called “immunocytokines”. These are bifunctional molecules composed of an antibody part and a cytokine part, which will recognize tumor cells or activate immune cells, respectively. The use of these molecules promises to enhance the therapeutic effect of cytokines significantly by delivering them directly to the tumor site. The researchers plan to dissect the mechanism of action as stand-alone treatment and in combination with standard-of-care chemotherapeutics and novel immunotherapies. (Swiss Cancer Research reference number: KFS-33394-02-2014)

Project 2: Investigating anti-cancer immune cells in melanoma patients

Much knowledge is already available on the destruction of human cancers by immune cells. The most potent immune cells to fight cancer are the T cells. The researcher’s hypothesis is that the strength of interaction between T cells and tumor cells correlates tightly with the capacity of T cells to exert clinically relevant functions and thus protect from cancer progression. In this project, the researchers aim at developing and applying methods to determine the strength of interaction between T cells and tumor cells in melanoma patients and to correlate the results with clinical outcome parameters. (Swiss Cancer Research reference number: KFS-3507-08-2014)

Much work lies ahead. Please donate today to help advance cancer research faster. Thank you.

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May 9, 2017
Research: A beacon of hope

By Peggy Janich | Project Leader

Finding new strategies to fight cancer

Despite worldwide and intensive research efforts, mankind has not yet conquered cancer. Although thanks to numerous discoveries and advances, for many persons cancer no longer ends in death and can be seen instead as a chronic illness, cancer is still the disease that takes the greatest toll on productive years of life in Switzerland. Continued efforts in oncology are therefore needed.

Research is and remains the brightest beacon of hope in the fight against cancer. And even though the Swiss Cancer Research foundation supports a great variety of different research projects, the goal of all funded projects can be brought down to a common denominator: the aim to improve survival rates and quality of life for patients with cancer.

Funding research sets off a chain reaction: Research findings cross-fertilize and draw from each other. Newly gained insights mostly build on previously acquired knowledge. The metaphor of “dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants” and discovering new horizons goes as far back as the Middle Ages, but it is all the more true today. Even if the advances achieved within single research studies are mostly only small, the successes become very visible when we see how far those many small steps have brought us over a longer period of time.

One of the most impressive examples is leukaemia in children: Only 50 years ago, this cancer meant certain death; medicine was simply powerless against the disease. Today, approximately four out of five children with leukaemia can be saved. But for research, the story is not yet over. Are there ways to help the young patients for whom today’s treatment methods fail? Several new research studies, which address the causes of drug resistance and disease relapse are seeking answers to this question.

Please donate today to help us support more innovative cancer research projects aiming at improving the survival of cancer patients.

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Feb 1, 2017
Swiss Cancer Research - 25 years

By Peggy Janich | Research Associate

25 years of promoting research - a story of continuous success

At the end of 2016, the Swiss Cancer Research foundation (SCR) celebrated its 25^th anniversary. In 1991, SCR raised three million Swiss francs for research funding. A quarter of a century later this amount has increased more than fivefold. However, an annually growing number of research projects accompanied this steady increase in money raised. Initially, we received 50 projects each year. Today, researchers submit around 200 cancer research projects amounting to a requested total of 50 to 60 million Swiss francs per year to the SCR and its partner organization the Swiss Cancer League. Unfortunately, as financial means are limited, only one third of these projects can be supported. For this reason, it is highly important to carefully evaluate and select the most outstanding projects. To this end, the SCR relies on the expertise of a scientific committee working in close collaboration with international experts in cancer research.

Since immunotherapies have emerged as one of the most promising fields in the fight against cancer, SCR spends a substantial amount of its funds every year to advance basic and clinical research in this area.

A recently completed project focused on the treatment of blood-borne cancers such as lymphoma or leukemia. While cancer immunotherapy of solid tumors aims at the stimulation of a certain type of white blood cells, so-called T cells, another type of white blood cells termed natural killer cells, has been proven to attack and kill blood-borne cancers. The research team generated a new antibody complex containing the immune-cell stimulating molecule interleukin-2 and tested it in different preclinical models of cancer. These complexes were not only able to enhance anti-tumor effects of natural killer cells, but also significantly reduce the side effects in comparison to previously used molecules.

(Swiss Cancer Research reference number: KFS-3375-02-2014; original title: “Use of interleukin-2-antibody complexes to stimulate natural killer cells for immunotherapy of malignant hematological disorders”)

Please donate today to help us support more innovative cancer research projects aiming at improving the survival of cancer patients.

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