More information
Description
This project will develop novel approaches for treating a highly invasive cancer that responds poorly to treatments. Glioblastoma is the most frequent and deadliest form of brain cancer and represents a major health problem affecting many young children. Radiotherapy plays a crucial role in glioma treatment, however, glioma cells survive the treatment, one underlying reason being the presence of cancer stem cells that have high DNA repair capacity.
One promising strategy to improve treatment is therefore to combine radiotherapy with inhibitors of DNA repair. We aim at identifying radiation-drug combinations inhibiting DNA repair and exploring how such treatment combinations work in cells irradiated with high versus low radiotherapy . We also aim at identifying new promising biomarkers signatures that may support the development of personalized treatment of patients.
An original approach will be employed by using a new DNA repair high-throughput drug screening, unique in the world, available at Norwegian partner, to identify drugs that could be used as glioma radiosensitizers in association with conventional low-LET and with high-LET particle therapy.
The society will benefit through the development of new and better strategies to treat cancer.
The expertise of the Romanian team will be highly enhanced in the topic of mechanisms driven the DNA repair following the radiotherapy procedure and the Norwegian researchers will be better prepared for exploiting a new proton radiotherapy centre (to be opened in 2023). The outcome of the project will allow a good chance to develop new long-term collaborations with hospitals that could be end-users.