Projects
Understanding tumour-immune interactions and cancer immunotherapy responses from differential immune selection pressures in the cancer genome Ghent University
The human immune system has a key role in preventing tumour formation. This long-standing immunosurveillance theory has been reinforced in recent years due to the success of cancer therapies that modulate the immune system (immunotherapy). Cancer cell immune recognition is mainly mediated by neoantigens, small mutated peptides that are presented to immune cells at the cancer cell membrane via the Major Histocompatibility Complex type I ...
Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) -driven dissection of the microbiome’s multi-factorial impact on colorectal cancer (CRC) immune-landscape to guide clinical immunotherapy. KU Leuven
Development of a non-invasive test to predict immunotherapy response in lung cancer patients Ghent University
An increasing number of lung cancer patients undergoes treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), hence, only 20 to 45% of patients will respond. Nevertheless, existing predictive biomarkers cannot accurately separate non-responders from responders and require invasive tumor tissue sampling. Lately, evidence accumulates that tumor regressions under ICIs are reflected by changes in specific immune cells in peripheral blood. We aim to ...
Prediction of immunotherapy response and toxicity in melanoma, renal cell and lung cancer using transcriptome based systemic immune phenotyping. Ghent University
An increasing number of cancer patients undergoes treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), hence, only a fraction of the patients will respond. Nevertheless, existing predictive biomarkers cannot accurately discriminate non-responder from responder patients and require invasive tumor tissue sampling. A group of these ICI treated patients develop immune-related adverse effects (irAEs). Also for irAEs no accurate prediction ...
Non-invasive prediction of immunotherapy response for lung cancer patients Ghent University
An increasing number of patients with, amongst others, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), melanoma and bladder cancer, undergoes treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors. Globally speaking, 20 to 45% of patients will respond to this class of medicines in mono- or combination therapy. Nevertheless, existing predictive biomarkers cannot accurately separate non-responders from responders and require invasive tumor tissue sampling. Lately, ...
Validation of a new combination immunotherapy for cancer: treatment with a CD40 agonist and interleukin- 15 University of Antwerp
Proof-of-concept for novel combination strategies with immunotherapy to treat solid tumors. University of Antwerp
Exploring the role of PlexinA4 in cytotoxic T cells: insights for antitumor immune response & cancer immunotherapy KU Leuven
In the last years, immunotherapy has emerged as a promising treatment for cancer patients. Immune system-based cancer therapies offer a rapid and durable activity, mostly because, once the immune system is activated, it can potentiate a self-propagating and adaptable response. Indeed, immunotherapy leads to durable clinical responses, but only in a fraction of patients and certain tumor types.
Changes in cancer cell metabolism can ...
Revealing the cancer cell-intrinsic immunotherapy targets in glioblastoma using reverse translational approaches KU Leuven
Glioblastoma (GBM) is an aggressive form of brain cancer with a poor prognosis. Immunotherapy via immune-checkpoint blockades that showed remarkable success in other cancer types has achieved limited efficacy in GBM because of the low mutational burden and highly immunosuppressive GBM microenvironment. The lack of well-established immunotherapy-guided biomarkers to pre-select a population of GBM patients that could benefit from tailored ...