ImmuneT-ME

Mature T-cell leukemias/lymphomas (MaTCL) are a group of rare blood cancers for which there are few effective treatments currently available. These diseases tend to be highly aggressive with low patient survival, or they lead to complications and poor quality of life for the patients. Due to the rarity of individual MaTCL cancer subtypes, the large-scale collection of patient samples and data, as well as the undertaking of clinical studies, remains challenging and requires multi-centre concerted efforts. To date, existing therapies that directly target the tumor cells have failed to extend MaTCL patient survival. Preliminary data from our project partners have indicated that MaTCL tumors have alterations in the composition, activation status and tumor-regulating function of other cells within the tumor microenvironment, particularly cells of the immune system. The ImmuneT-ME EP PerMed project aims to comprehensively map MaTCL tumor-specific alterations in these immune cells in order to identify and implement new biomarkers that can predict patient outcomes. We will also test strategies to target such immune cells in the tumor microenvironment in order to develop new, more effective personalized therapy options for MaTCL patients. Our interdisciplinary consortium of cancer biologists, clinical hematologists (blood cancer specialists), bioinformaticians and patient organizations will capitalize on unique resources to achieve these goals, such as large MaTCL patient sample repositories, artificial intelligence-based machine learning tools, new high-fidelity preclinical models and patient advocacy networks. We will focus on the accelerated implementation of our findings at the levels of patients, peers and other stakeholders, including establishing a European MaTCL patient organization. We anticipate that the results of our project will lead to the development of new immune microenvironment-based predictive biomarkers and personalized therapies for MaTCL patients, paving the way for future clinical trials.