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Lecture

Anti-cancer therapies II: De Palma

In course

BIO-392: Oncology

This course provides a comprehensive overview of the biology of cancer, including common mechanisms that cancer cells use to grow and disseminate in humans and in animal models. ...

Description

This lecture covers cancer immunotherapy breakthroughs, including immune checkpoint blockade, adoptive T cell therapies, tumor vaccines, and dendritic cell vaccines. It discusses the immunogenicity of tumors, immune responses, and the challenges and clinical data of therapies like TCR transfer and PD1-PDL1 blockade.

Instructors (2)

Daniel Constam

Daniel Constam received his doctoral degree in Natural Sciences from ETH Zürich in the neuroimmunology group of Adriano Fontana (1993). For postdoctoral studies, he joined the laboratory of Elizabeth Robertson as an EMBO fellow at Harvard University to characterize proprotein convertase (PC) functions in mouse models of early embryogenesis (1994-1999). As an ISREC group leader (>2000) and Associate Professor at EPFL (>2007), he initially continued to study pluripotency and lineage differentiation during development and found that several secreted PCs jointly regulate cell-cell adhesion and TGFβ signaling pathways at the cross-roads of stem cell and cancer biology. To map the proteolytic activity of PCs and their relative distribution in exocytic or endocytic vesicles, his lab developed PC-specific FRET sensors for high resolution live imaging in normal cells and in tumour-host interactions. His studies on TGFβ signaling also identified the RNA-binding protein Bicc1 and its self-polymerization in membrane-less organelles as regulators of mRNA translation and cell metabolism that cooperate with primary cilia to prevent cystic growth in renal tubules and in pancreatic and bile ducts.

Michele De Palma

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Biology

Cell biology: Cancer

Health sciences

Immunology: Immune system

Related concepts (32)

Cancer immunotherapy

Cancer immunotherapy (sometimes called immuno-oncology) is the stimulation of the immune system to treat cancer, improving on the immune system's natural ability to fight the disease. It is an application of the fundamental research of cancer immunology and a growing subspecialty of oncology. Cancer immunotherapy exploits the fact that cancer cells often have tumor antigens, molecules on their surface that can be detected by the antibody proteins of the immune system, binding to them.

Adoptive cell transfer

Adoptive cell transfer (ACT) is the transfer of cells into a patient. The cells may have originated from the patient or from another individual. The cells are most commonly derived from the immune system with the goal of improving immune functionality and characteristics. In autologous cancer immunotherapy, T cells are extracted from the patient, genetically modified and cultured in vitro and returned to the same patient. Comparatively, allogeneic therapies involve cells isolated and expanded from a donor separate from the patient receiving the cells.

Brain tumor

A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and secondary tumors, which most commonly have spread from tumors located outside the brain, known as brain metastasis tumors. All types of brain tumors may produce symptoms that vary depending on the size of the tumor and the part of the brain that is involved.

Tumor antigen

Tumor antigen is an antigenic substance produced in tumor cells, i.e., it triggers an immune response in the host. Tumor antigens are useful tumor markers in identifying tumor cells with diagnostic tests and are potential candidates for use in cancer therapy. The field of cancer immunology studies such topics. Normal proteins in the body are not antigenic because of self-tolerance, a process in which self-reacting cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) and autoantibody-producing B lymphocytes are culled "centrally" in primary lymphatic tissue (BM) and "peripherally" in secondary lymphatic tissue (mostly thymus for T-cells and spleen/lymph nodes for B cells).

Tumor suppressor gene

A tumor suppressor gene (TSG), or anti-oncogene, is a gene that regulates a cell during cell division and replication. If the cell grows uncontrollably, it will result in cancer. When a tumor suppressor gene is mutated, it results in a loss or reduction in its function. In combination with other genetic mutations, this could allow the cell to grow abnormally. The loss of function for these genes may be even more significant in the development of human cancers, compared to the activation of oncogenes.

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Material Engineering in Cancer Immunotherapy

Covers the evasion of immune pressure by tumors, cancer immunotherapies, drug delivery strategies, and the impact of nanoparticle characteristics on tumor penetration.

Immune Cell Engineering: Targeting Checkpoint Inhibitors

Explores immune cell engineering for cancer therapy, emphasizing checkpoint inhibitor targeting through innovative delivery methods.

Cancer Immunotherapy: Concepts & Drug Delivery

Explores cancer immunotherapy, immune system roles in cancer, recent advancements, and drug delivery concepts using nanoparticles and polymers.

An Overview of Vaccines

Covers precision tumor recognition, challenges in T cell therapy, vaccination impact, history, types, and examples of vaccines, immune response, and COVID-19 vaccine types.

What is cancer? - De Palma