Project title: Developing next-generation TCR-based therapies for pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors
Mauro Cives, PhD University of Bari Aldo Moro
- Status: Active
- Year(s): 2025, 2026, 2027
- Grant Type: Investigator
- Research Type: Translational
- Primary Tumor Site: Pancreas
- Area of Inquiry: Tumor Microenvironment, Immunotherapy, Application of existing or new technologies to target NETs Immunotherapy
What critical neuroendocrine cancer problem/question will researchers try to answer?
This project could help us discover exactly how the immune system can find and destroy neuroendocrine tumor cells. If we understand this process better, it might lead to a whole new type of treatment that uses the body’s own defenses to fight these cancers.
Why is this important?
Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PanNETs) are rare cancers that can be hard to treat. Unlike many other cancers, they do not respond well to today’s immunotherapies, despite the immune system’s ability to detect these tumors. It’s as if the body’s “alarm system” senses the cancer but fails to call for help. This research focuses on identifying immune cells that can recognize and attack PanNETs, but are currently too weak to stop them.
What will the researchers do?
Using advanced technologies, the team will identify the strongest of these immune cells, enhance their function, and re-engineer them into a new form of treatment called adoptive T-cell therapy. This personalized immunotherapy empowers a patient’s own immune system to fight cancer more effectively.
How might this improve the treatment of neuroendocrine cancer?
If successful, this work could pave the way for a new type of treatment that strengthens a patient’s own immune system to destroy cancer cells. For patients with PanNETs, this approach offers real hope for safer, more personalized, and more effective therapies.
Additional Details
- City: Bari
- Country: Italy
- Grant Duration: 2 years
DISCLAIMER
NETRF funds laboratory research to understand the development of neuroendocrine tumors and translational research to explore new concepts in treatment. Research grant descriptions and research updates from NETRF are not intended to serve as medical advice. It can take years for research discoveries to be fully validated and approved for patient care. Always consult your health care providers about your treatment options.