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Project

Validation of a new combination immunotherapy for cancer: treatment with a CD40 agonist and interleukin- 15

Despite the many scientific successes in ameliorating the outcome for cancer patients, cancer still remains the second leading cause of death worldwide, with about 1 in 6 deaths due to cancer. Therefore, we still have a long and difficult road ahead in finding new and improved cancer therapeutics. A major gamechanger in the treatment of cancer patients is the breakthrough of immunotherapy. Especially the introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors resulted in significant increased overall response rates for several cancer types. However, despite their success, several disadvantages and hurdles to further improve the outcome of cancer patients are still present. Therefore, other strategies of cancer immunotherapy need to be explored to overcome or circumvent these drawbacks. Two promising approaches are currently in the scoop of cancer immunotherapy research, being (i) the use of natural killer cells to fight tumour cells and (ii) turning cold immunogenic tumours into hot immunogenic tumours. We have shown in our lab that natural killer cells can play a significant role in a cold immunogenic tumour like pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). More specifically, after stimulation with interleukin(IL)-15, natural killer cells are able to not only kill the tumour cells but also the surrounding immunosuppressive stromal cells of the tumour microenvironment. Furthermore, we also demonstrated that the anti-tumour potential of IL-15 is significantly enhanced combined with an immunotherapeutic agent that works on antigen presenting cells. With the results of this project, we aim to initiate a first-in-human clinical trial with our combination immunotherapy. Patients suffering from various tumour types, including some which are not responding to standard chemo-/radiotherapy or current immune checkpoint inhibitors, could potentially have a better treatment outcome in the future.
Date:1 May 2020 →  30 Apr 2021
Keywords:COMBINATION IMMUNOTHERAPY, CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY
Disciplines:Cancer therapy