Cancer immunology

Scientists from SGGW make a significant contribution to the fight against cancer. The work they do is a tremendous treatment opportunity for both humans and animals.

The most important directions of research conducted in the team of prof. dr hab. Magdalena Król – head of the Independent Cancer Biology Laboratory from the Institute of Biology of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, concerns immuno-oncology, cancer biology, the influence of hypoxia on the development of neoplastic cells, therapy of solid tumors, and the search for prognostic and predictive indicators of triple negative breast cancer.

One of the main research topics is the development and testing of a new cell therapy for solid tumors. The problems of modern therapy most often consist in the difficulties in reaching anticancer drugs to solid tumors, especially to their hypoxic sites. Hypoxic sites attract macrophages, which have the ability to migrate even to places distant from blood vessels, inaccessible to drugs or other immune cells. Thus, macrophages can provide a good delivery system for these regions. The research uses a protein “cage” – ferritin as a carrier of drugs that can be transported by macrophages. The ferritin “cage” is easily absorbed by macrophages, then transported to the tumor and actively transferred to cancer cells. It is the TRAIN (TRAnsfer of Iron-binding protein) mechanism of ferritin transmission to cancer cells, which the team discovered. The TRAIN mechanism is currently being investigated as part of the ERC Starting Grant. TRAIN points to a new way of communication between macrophages and cancer cells, which can be used to “smuggle” anti-cancer drugs directly into a cancer cell, which would constitute an innovative cell therapy for solid tumors. The ERC named this project one of the ten most interesting projects in the last 10 years. The project is implemented in cooperation with national units (MUW and UW) and scientists from Great Britain, Switzerland, Italy and Germany.

Another important project carried out by the team is the creation of a molecular classification of triple-negative breast cancer and the selection of new biomarkers correlating with chemosensitivity and the course of the disease. The end result of the research will be the development of a new diagnostic test that will improve the effects of treatment. The project is implemented in cooperation with domestic and foreign units.