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Photo: Jan Buurma
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The Dutch Cancer Society is investing 2 million euros at the University Medical Center Groningen for research into cancer prevention. ‘Is it possible to reprogram our immune system against viruses in such a way that it recognizes and attacks cancer cells?’ The research focuses on answering these and other questions. The studies will start in 2021.
KWF director Fred Falkenburg is happy with the new research: “The corona pandemic has disrupted cancer care considerably. Population studies were halted, care was avoided and treatments were postponed. That is not without consequences ”. “By funding dozens of new studies, we are giving an important and powerful boost to the fight against that other pandemic: cancer”.
The awards are part of the latest funding round of KWF, in which 27 million euros is awarded to Dutch cancer research.
The Groningen contribution offers a varied palette of subjects, such as the research by Prof. Jan Jacob Schuringa into the weak spot of leukemia and the research by Prof. Marcel van Vugt into the way in which cancer cells deal with damage to their DNA.
Using viruses against cancer
Most people come into contact with the CMV virus as a child. As a rule, they do not get sick, but they do develop a strong defense against it. The virus remains in the body after the first infection, only to flare up briefly during life. Because the immune cells in the body are trained against the virus, it immediately makes short work of this activity.
Prof. Wijnand Helfrich wants to investigate whether it is possible to send immune cells to cancer cells. The plan is to use a substance that will make them look like active CMV viruses to the immune system.
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