By Peggy Janich | Project Leader
Cancer immunotherapy has become a rapidly advancing field that revolutionized cancer care. Yet there a still many open questions researchers need to address to help ensure that more patients can benefit from this therapy. For example, it is still not clear, why some patients respond better to cancer immunotherapy than others, or why side effects vary and what can be done to minimize them. Please donate today to help us support cancer researchers in finding answers to these pressing questions.
Read on to learn more about two selected projects supported by Swiss Cancer Research.
Project 1: A novel family of immune cells to fight human tumors
In this project, the researchers study the role of a recently identified family of immune cells called innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) in cancer immunotherapy. The therapeutic potential of these immune cells has already been evaluated in the treatment of asthma, multiple sclerosis and other diseases. However, their potential as players in tumor progression or regression is still largely unexplored. Various ILC subsets have been shown to either favor the elimination of tumors or to promote cancer growth depending on the tumor type. In this project, the researchers will examine the potential of ILCs to recognize and kill tumor cells in urologic cancers. (Swiss Cancer Research reference number: KFS-3710-08-2015)
Project 2: Improving cancer vaccination with the help of photosensitizers and light
The goal of cancer vaccines is to stimulate the patient’s immune system to fight the tumor. However, conventional vaccines typically stimulate the arm of the immune system that is effective in fighting infections but not cancer. The immune system’s weapon to fight cancer are the so-called cytotoxic CD8 T cells. In this project, the research team mixed the vaccine with a special photochemical compound that can be activated upon illumination with defined light sources. Thus, they were able to fool the pattern of the immune system. When light was applied, the vaccine was released into immune cells that can stimulate CD8 T cells. Based on this data, a first human clinical trial was launched. (Swiss Cancer Research reference number: KFS-3451-08-2014)
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