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SEK 31 million for more effective immunotherapy in cancer treatment

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Göran Jönsson, Professor of Molecular Oncology, has been granted SEK 31 million from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation to improve the effect of immunotherapy in the treatment of cancer patients.

About 30 percent of melanoma patients with metastatic disease benefit from immunotherapy. At the same time, this means that 70 percent of all melanoma patients still lack effective treatment options. Göran Jönsson and his colleagues want to identify new medications for this patient group.

“It’s a fantastically prestigious grant, and we’re delighted to receive it. This means that together with my co-applicants, Kristian Pietras and Joan Yuan, I now have the time and resources to ask important questions about immunotherapy, tertiary lymphoid structures and melanoma disease. We have many ideas and thoughts on which we can now build, in order to understand the basic mechanisms behind why not all melanoma patients benefit from immunotherapy,” says Göran Jönsson, Professor of Molecular Oncology at the Faculty of Medicine’s Department of Clinical Sciences in Lund.

Three more researchers at Lund University received project grants from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation: Mikael Akke, Sara Linse and Michel Gisselbrecht at the Faculty of Science and LTH. Read more here: Four Lund researchers receive SEK 120 million from the Wallenberg Foundation

Read the press release from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation 23 research projects receive SEK 700 million in grants

Popular scientific summary of the project “Resolving the anti-tumour effects of tertiary lymphoid structures”

Immunotherapy has become an important tool in the treatment of cancer patients. Treatment with immunotherapy activates the body’s own immune system to eliminate the tumour cells with the help of so-called “T-cells”.  However, it has been shown that not all T-cells are effective, and more research is needed to enhance the efficacy of immunotherapy. About 30 percent of melanoma patients with metastatic disease benefit from immunotherapy. At the same time, this means that 70 percent of all melanoma patients still lack effective treatment options, and that new medications need to be identified for this patient group. Greater understanding is also needed about why these patients do not benefit from immunotherapy.
 
The research project is based on the research team’s previous findings, which describe the role the organisation of the immune system’s B-cells may play in predicting whether patients respond to immunotherapy. B-cells that infiltrate tumours organise themselves into so-called “tertiary lymphoid structures”. The research team believes that tertiary lymphoid structures are immunological factories formed in tumours by the immune system to create more efficient T-cells and maintain the immunological anti-tumour response. The aim is to understand how tumour-associated tertiary lymphoid structures form and mature in order to maintain the immune system’s attack on the tumour. Such information will revolutionise perspectives on the immunological response to tumours and contribute to the development of new cancer medications that help the immune system fight cancer.