Project

Vooruitgang in Glioblastoma Immunotherapie: Nieuwe Fotosensibilisators voor Inductie van Immunogene Celdood door Diep Doordringende Fotodynamische Therapie

Code
DOCT/012623
Duration
16 October 2024 → 21 September 2025 (Ongoing)
Doctoral researcher
Research disciplines
  • Medical and health sciences
    • Compound screening
    • In vitro testing
    • Medical biophysics
    • Adaptive immunology
    • Cancer therapy
Keywords
Immunogenic Cell Death photodynamic therapy cancer Glioblastoma
 
Project description
 

Glioblastoma is the most frequent and aggressive type of brain cancer and with only 6.9% of patients surviving five years after diagnosis, there is an urgent need to develop more effective therapies. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) can improve survival by using drugs known as photosensitizers that trigger cancer death when exposing the tumor to a specific type of light. However, current photosensitizers do not offer sustained survival benefits and can only be activated by short-penetrating light, making PDT unsuitable for large and infiltrative tumors. Recent discoveries suggest that some photosensitizers could trigger “immunogenic cell death (ICD)”, in which dying cancer cells stimulate the immune system to eliminate remaining cancer cells and offer long-lasting cancer protection. Inducing ICD by PDT provides new perspectives for enhanced glioblastoma treatment. In addition to elevating the treatment efficacy of PDT in glioblastoma patients, induced ICD can be used to prepare dendritic cell vaccines, a promising form of immunotherapy. This project aims to overcome the current limitations of PDT by discovering novel photosensitizers activated by deep-penetrating light and a robust ability to induce ICD. Additionally, it seeks to investigate the potential of these innovative photosensitizers to prepare effective dendritic cell vaccines for glioblastoma treatment. The photosensitizers and insights derived from this project could hold great promise for advancing glioblastoma therapy.