CRIS OUT-BACK PROGRAMME 2021
Ovarian cancer has a 5-year survival rate of just 40%, due to its late diagnosis and aggressiveness. Although immunotherapy is showing good results in other types of tumours, in ovarian cancer the results are still not satisfactory.
One type of immunotherapy with a great deal of potential is a form of cell therapy using CAR-T cells (genetically engineered lymphocytes with a detector that helps them identify and destroy tumour cells). However, although they have been shown to be very effective against blood tumours, solid tumours such as ovarian tumours have not yet achieved good results.
The Project:
In this project, Dr Diego Salas Benito will work to improve these CAR-T therapies, working on a CAR-T to target a characteristic molecule of ovarian tumours. To do this, certain modifications will be made that help it penetrate the tumour better, combining it with other treatments to optimise its anti-tumour activity. These experiments will be conducted in animal models but may open the door to future effective therapies against ovarian cancer with state-of-the-art technology.