By Peggy Janich | Scientific Associate
Today we would like to provide you with some insight on the research activities supported by the Swiss Cancer Research foundation. Below you can read about two projects that were recently completed.
Project 1: Immunotherapy against brain tumors
Brain tumors belong to the most serious forms of cancer. They are incurable and lead to death within 3 months of diagnosis for the majority of patients. Even aggressive surgery, radio-and chemotherapy only lead to a median survival of 12-15 months.
A research team at the University of Zurich has discovered a way to successfully target brain tumors by immunotherapy. The approach is based on the combination of two independent immune signals, which lead to brain tumor recognition and removal by the immune system. This therapeutic approach not only worked in early stage brain cancer, but also in laboratory animals with large, established brain cancer lesions and led to long term tumor-free survival of the treated subjects. Currently all necessary parameters are adjusted to pave the way for a clinical trial with human patients.
(Swiss Cancer Research reference number: KFS-2981-08-2012; original title: “Using IL-12 in combination immunotherapy against late-stage Glioblastoma")
Project 2: Stimulating our defense against cancer: timing is everything
Immunotherapy is a highly interesting treatment option for cancer as it uses one’s own immune system to combat the disease. To this end, a research group at the University of Fribourg focused their work on the effective stimulation of the immune system with synthetic molecules mimicking a microbial threat. They assessed combinations of these so-called immunomodulators for the treatment of tumors in miceand found that sequential stimulation leads to very favorable immune responses. The researchers further described the cellular and molecular mechanisms of these enhanced responses and have early results for the efficacy of these already clinically-tested immunomodulators in tumor-bearing mice. Thus, this newly developed protocol may help improve treatment for the benefit of patients suffering from cancer.
(Swiss Cancer Research reference number: KFS-2910-02-2012; original title: “Enhancing anticancer immunity through sequential stimulation of innate immune pathways”)
Please help us support more innovative projects by donating to the Swiss Cancer Research foundation today!
More information on cancer research projects supported by the Swiss Cancer Research foundation is found in our publicly available database:
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
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