The ImmunoDCs@CancerStemCells project, which is being jointly promoted by the Tecnimede Group, Associação UC Tecnimede, and the University of Coimbra, is an R&D project aimed at developing a clinical grade cell vaccine to eliminate cancer stem cells, thus making it an innovative therapeutic approach with enormous potential and added value for cancer patients.

The project “Cellular immunotherapy targeted at eliminating cancer stem cells” aims to optimise the production of the vaccine at the pilot stage, an achievement that will provide the Tecnimede Group with technical and scientific knowledge, crucial to leverage the subsequent establishment of pilot clinical trials for the treatment of lung and pancreatic carcinomas.

As such, the following objectives have been established:

- To develop and optimise the production of a dendritic cell vaccine targeting cancer stem cells.

- Assess and demonstrate the functionality of the vaccine in vitro for specific cases of pancreatic tumours and non-small cell lung tumours. In the first instance, this will be done using commercially available cell lines and subsequently with patient samples to verify the proof of concept.

The project is co-financed by COMPETE 2020 within the Research and Technological Development Incentive System.