Research
Immunotargeting and Radiobiology in Oncology : A. Pèlegrin

Research topics

 

Our research concerns mainly digestive (particularly colorectal and pancreatic), breast and ovarian cancers and the following target antigens: the family of HER receptors and their ligands, AXL (a member of the TAM (TYRO3/AXL/MER)family), the transferrin receptor (TfR1/CD71) and the Müllerian Inhibiting Substance type II receptor (MISR-II) family. In addition to their role in cancer, these target antigens were chosen because of (i) their implication in drug-induced resistance, (ii) their crosstalk that allows combining mAbs against several of these targets in a synthetic lethality strategy, (iii) their activation through hetero- or homo-dimerization allowing us to study the importance of these dimers in cell signaling and in the effect of therapeutic mAbs, (iv) the possibility of maintaining a balance between well validated targets (for which the international competition can be very hard) and original, novel targets the interest of which in the cancer field remains to be fully validated, but with a reduced international competition.

 

 

Besides the association of individual antibodies, our combination strategy also includes the association of mAbs with radiotherapy. Indeed, each of these therapeutic approaches involves complementary signaling pathways and can thus be combined in a synthetic lethality-based approach. In addition to improving cancer treatments, part of our research program is focused on normal tissue protection, including prediction of late severe adverse effects after radiotherapy.


© Institut de Recherche en Cancérologie de Montpellier - 2011 - Tous droits réservés - Mentions légales - Connexion - Conception : ID Alizés