ERC Synergy Grant awarded to UniSR for research on immunotherapy of liver metastases

Valeria Fumagalli (University Vita-Salute San Raffaele), Eric Vivier (Aix-Marseille Université), Florent Ginhoux (Gustave Roussy) and Georg Gasteiger (University of Würzburg) - the latter principal investigator of the team - were awarded the ERC Synergy worth 10 million Euros, the maximum amount that can be financed, for a project for the immunotherapy of liver metastases which will last 6 years.

The victory of the four scientists was decreed by the European Research Council (ERC), the European Union body that finances excellent researchers of all disciplines, nationalities and age groups, who intend to carry out pioneering research in European Union member states. Synergy grants are awarded for projects that bring together the expertise of various experts, enabling significant progress with the potential to set new global standards.

The research team convinced the prestigious panel of experts with its innovative research approach to treating secondary liver tumors, in colorectal cancer metastases. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of mortality, with about 25-50% of patients developing liver metastases (LLMs) in the course of the disease. The 5-year survival rate of patients with disease not amenable to surgical removal (comprising more than 80% of cases) does not exceed 2%. Recently, new therapies that promote antitumor immunity focused on enhancing T-cell responses have been developed, which, despite achieving unprecedented results, offer benefit only to a minority of patients, underlining the need to identify new cells and molecules that can be exploited in next-generation immunotherapies. In light of the crucial role played by cells of the innate immune response, turning attention toward them opens up new perspectives for cancer control.

The project aims to take advantage of innate immunity cells to exploit their potential to fight secondary liver tumors, i.e. liver metastases from colorectal cancer.

The project will be designed by the different skills of the scientists involved. Valeria Fumagalli, in particular, specializes in liver immunology and works with tissue samples from cancer patients at IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele in Milan.

By combining the cutting-edge of transcriptomics - the discipline that studies all of a cell's messenger RNAs - at the single cell level and high-resolution spatial transcriptomics, on patient samples and in advanced genetically modified mouse models, scientists will clarify the interactions between immune cells – between them and with the various cells of the liver – and how these change during the disease. The goal is to identify key molecules and exploit them to restore immune control in metastatic lesions. The project is to develop new molecules, which will be tested in experimental mouse models and on patient tissue samples, to explore new therapeutic approaches for this devastating disease.

"I am excited about the opportunity presented by winning the ERC Synergy, a pivotal moment in my career as a researcher, which was also started thanks to the support of Fondazione Prossimo Mio and Fondazione Same. The ERC Synergy, which is moreover the first awarded at San Raffale, will allow me to collaborate with experts in the field of innate immunology and cancer. Together, with the help of science and combining different expertise, we will pursue the dream of fighting, in an increasingly effective way, cancers."

says Dr. Valeria Fumagalli, Grant winner and researcher in Pathology at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, who will carry out the project in collaboration with the Research Unit of Professor Matteo Iannacone, Director of the Immune Response Dynamics Unit and the Division of Immunology, Transplantation and Infectious Diseases, as well as Professor of General Pathology in UniSR.