TOMSK, Oct 6 – RIA Tomsk.
Scientists of
Tomsk State University (TSU), together with colleagues, will create
new-generation genetic technologies to predict the course and effectiveness of
therapy for tumors of the breast, colon, lung, larynx, prostate, ovary and
cervix, according to the university's website on Wednesday.
Earlier it was reported
that Tomsk doctors will develop genetic technologies for blocking metastases in
cancer. For the implementation of the project, Siberian State University (SSMU)
received a grant from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the
Russian Federation in the amount of more than 260 million rubles. The grant
became one of the largest in the history of SSMU and was obtained thanks to the
unification of competencies within the framework of the Big University.
"The project manager
is Professor, Head of the Department of Innate Immunity and Immunological
Tolerance of Heidelberg University (Germany), an employee of SSMU and Tomsk
State University Julia Kzhyshkowska. The project will create new
technologies for epigenomic editing of intratumoral innate immunity to prevent
the process of metastasis formation... Along with this, scientists will develop
approaches for targeted effects on systemic immunity and programming it to
block tumor progression," the report explains.
It is added that the
project will involve participants of an interdisciplinary consortium initiated
by TSU, including employees of the TSU translational cell and molecular
biomedicine laboratory, which is headed by Kzhyshkowska, and the Faculty of
Chemistry of TSU.
"In most cases, the
death of (oncological) patients is not caused by the malignant neoplasm itself,
but by the process of metastasis – the appearance of secondary foci of the
tumor. Our task is to develop new generation genetic technologies for the
prognosis of course, effectiveness of therapy for tumors of the breast, colon,
lung, larynx, prostate, ovary and cervix," the report quotes Kzhyshkowska.
© предоставлено пресс-службой ТГУ
Julia Kzhyshkowska
It is specified that
scientists will conduct studies that will become the basis for the creation of
prototypes of gene therapy drugs with directed effects on tumor and immune
cells that prevent the transition of micrometastases to macrometastases.
Researchers have already
created a great scientific background: unique models of tumor-associated
macrophages have been developed, new functional biomarkers of their
pathological activity have been identified, the role of macrophages in the
response to chemotherapy and in the development of tumor chemoresistency has
been established, the first steps have been taken to create genetically
engineered therapeutic vectors based on alphaviruses to affect the tumor
microenvironment.