Discovering tumour antigens for universal cancer vaccines
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Discovering tumour antigens for universal cancer vaccines
IRAS ID
288641
Contact name
George Kassiotis
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Francis Crick Institute
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 7 months, 30 days
Research summary
The goal of this study is to identify new targets for cancer vaccination strategies. Our research group has recently found a specific group of proteins frequently produced by cancer cells, but not in healthy tissue. Targeting the immune system to these proteins may help to build a specific immune response to cancerous tissue which can be induced by tumour vaccination strategies.
To determine whether the proteins we found can be targeted by the immune system, we will study immune responses of healthy donors towards these proteins. We will culture immune cells derived from leukocyte cones from the NHSBT and stimulate them with the cancer-related peptides, and determine whether this induces immune responses that can attack and kill cancer cells.
If we find that these proteins can induce stong immune responses, this could potentially be used for cancer vaccination strategies and be beneficial for many cancer patients simultaneously.REC name
London - London Bridge Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/PR/0400
Date of REC Opinion
15 Sep 2020
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion