European funding for Dresden research into metabolomics and immunotherapy

The international research project METRICs, coordinated by Dr. Mohamed Elgendy, Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the TUD Faculty of Medicine, has been awarded around EUR 2 million as part of the European funding program ERA-NET Transcan. METRICs is the largest project funded to date under this program since its launch in 2011. The funds will support a consortium of seven partner institutions on three continents that is developing new strategies to improve combined immunotherapy and radiotherapy.

The project focuses on investigating metabolic processes and the microbiome in cancer patients. Researchers hypothesize that tumor metabolic profiles, body metabolism, and intestinal microbiota composition are crucial for predicting how patients will respond to combined immunotherapy and radiotherapy. These factors could potentially serve as predictive biomarkers in the future, opening up new therapeutic approaches.

Preliminary findings suggest that the composition of the intestinal microbiota and lower indole production, a byproduct of intestinal bacteria, are associated with a better response to therapy. In preclinical models, combining CAR-T cell therapy with targeted microbiome modulation led to improved tumor control and prolonged survival.

As part of the METRICs study, samples from a total of 400 cancer patients are being analyzed at three study centers. Modern multi-omics methods, such as metabolomics and metagenomics, will be used to identify changes that are associated with the response to therapy. Based on these findings, new combined treatment strategies will be developed and tested preclinically.

The study also focuses on optimizing radiotherapy protocols and investigating the role of tumor metabolism in the efficacy of combined therapies. The goal is to derive concrete, clinically testable treatment strategies from this knowledge.

Through this integrative approach, METRICs contributes to the advancement of personalized cancer medicine and strives to enhance the effectiveness of modern immunotherapies and combination therapies for a greater number of patients in the long term.

Further information: https://transcan.eu/output-results/funded-projects/metrics.kl

Background information

The EU-funded TRANSCAN-3 program supports translational cancer research. With the joint call JTC 2024, the participating funding organizations focused on new combination therapies against cancer. The 15 funded projects comprise 73 research teams from 13 countries and a total budget of over EUR 16 million.

Contact:

Dr. Mohamed Elgendy
Mildred Scheel Center for Young Investigators (MSNZ ^P2 Dresden)
Carl Gustav Carus Faculty of Medicine at the
TUD Dresden University of Technology
E-mail: