Assess immune response to neoadjuvant treatment in oesophagogastric adenocarcinoma
Fiona Crotty
We are delighted to announce the 2020 Musgraves Scholar with Breakthrough Cancer Research as the partner, Fiona Crotty.
Fiona will work with supervisors Dr Claire Donohoe and Professor Jacintha O’Sullivan based in the Trinity St. James’s Cancer Institute, in Trinity College Dublin, and St. James’s Hospital. During her 3-year PhD, Fiona will “Assess immune response to neoadjuvant treatment in oesophagogastric adenocarcinoma.”
For cancer cells to survive and grow they must be able to evade or hide from the immune system. The area around the tumour is called the tumour microenvironment. We find different immune cells in the tumour microenvironment of different patients.
Research in different cancer types shows that the immune microenvironment can reflect response to treatment and prognosis. However, little research has been done on the microenvironment of oesophagogastric cancer, and current studies report conflicting results. Our current treatments for oesophagogastric cancer are ineffective and brutal. This knowledge gap has the potential to target the use of traditional onco-therapy to those who are likely to respond and lead to the informed development of newer immunotherapy approaches.
The overall aim of this research is to develop an immune profile that predicts who will respond to which treatments so that we can personalise treatment based on the likelihood of response. This research has the potential to improve patients’ outcomes and quality of life by, in the future: i) Treating patients only with the treatment they need, ii) Avoiding unnecessary side effects and disease progression, and iii) Identifying the patients who need more or different treatment, such as immune-based therapies.
RESEARCH FINDINGS
Conference Presentations:
Irish Society for Immunology (ISI) Conference 2022, Maynooth University, Ireland. Title: “Pre-treatment metabolic Markers and measures of response to neoadjuvant treatment in Oesophageal Adenocarcinoma”
IACR Conference 2023, Dublin, Ireland. Title: “Pre-treatment metabolic Markers and measures of response to neoadjuvant treatment in Oesophageal Adenocarcinoma”
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Start year
2020
End year
2023
Principal Investigators:
Dr. Claire Donohoe and Prof. Jacintha O'Sullivan
Researcher
Fiona Crotty
Institution
Trinity College Dublin
Grant Funding
Musgrave PhD Scholarship in partnership with Breakthrough Cancer Research
Linked Breakthrough Research Priorities
Increase research investment into poor prognosis cancers and currently incurable cancers prioritising lung, oesophageal, ovarian, pancreatic, brain, liver and stomach cancers.
Fund the discovery and development of new therapeutics, surgical approaches and technologies, including biological and immune approaches, to improve cancer treatment.
Fund research which aims to improve the effectiveness or specificity of current cancer therapies including investing in biomarkers discovery, nutrition and therapeutic delivery.
Invest in research harnessing the potential of big data to improve cancer detection, personalised treatment and patient outcomes.