Amsterdam and Zurich (Switzerland), in addition to the Amsterdam UMC start-up company CimCure B.V., and the French Biotechnology company Covalab.
In a recent Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology publication, Prof. Griffioen and co-workers presented evidence based on existing clinical trials that a combined treatment with inhibitors of tumor blood vessel formation and immunotherapy is more effective than immunotherapy alone.
“Tumors may cause blood vessels to change in such a way that immune cells can no longer attach to the vessel wall and attack neighboring cancer cells,” explains Arjan Griffioen, professor of Experimental Oncology and Angiogenesis.
It turns out that the reaction of blood vessels to inflammatory processes is completely absent and this abnormal biology protects the tumor from the immune system, a phenomenon called ‘tumor endothelial cell anergy’. Targeted molecules that counteract the formation of blood vessels (angiogenesis) prevent this anergy and immune cells are free to attack the tumor.
Prof. Griffioen: “We are thrilled that the provided Eurostars funding empowers our public-private partnership to pursue a combined treatment of an anti-angiogenic vaccination strategy with CAR T-cell immunotherapy in our quest to develop more effective treatments for patients with glioblastoma.”
For more information, contact Prof. Arjan Griffioen