Predicting the response of tumours to immunotherapy

Ignacio Melero Bermejo

Centro de Investigación Médica Aplicada (CIMA), Universidad de Navarra, Spain

Interleukin-8 (IL-8) is a protein that regulates migration to an infection site of immune-system cells such as neutrophils, the most abundant white blood cells and the body’s first line of defence.

In cancer, tumours take advantage of this system of attraction to spread into the tissues and multiply uncontrollably, even evading current treatments such as immunotherapy.

The project seeks to demonstrate that the abundant presence of IL-8 together with neutrophil dysfunction are correlated with the weakest responses to immunotherapy, in order to predict the response to certain treatments and find new drugs.

Interleukin-8 and neutrophil extracelular traps as actionable hurdles for cancer immunotherapy

€498,850