On February 8th, the award ceremony was held for the three young researchers who won the Strongers For Research 2024 grant.
The Scientific Committee of Strongers Social Club, composed of Prof. Caterina Rizzo, Dr. Giuditta Di Isernia, and Dr. Raffaele Giusti, carefully and diligently evaluated the most deserving projects, allowing us to identify the most promising young researchers and support their research initiatives in the field of lung oncology.
We recognize the dedication required for this important task and would like to thank them once again for their invaluable contribution to our mission!
To make the atmosphere even more vibrant, Cristiano Cosa’s performance.
Opening of applications for the Call: 06/09/2024
Deadline for applications: 31/10/2024
Prof. Caterina Rizzo expressed deep gratitude for the dedication of the President of Strongers Social Club, recognizing his role in creating and leading an association committed to advancing scientific research. She also extended her thanks to fellow colleagues and, above all, to the young researchers who participated in the initiative, demonstrating exceptional talent and dedication in preparing their proposals.
Despite the goal of keeping the proposals accessible, the scientific quality was remarkably high, as confirmed by the jury members. The research projects focused on two key areas: oncological prevention and the development of new cancer treatments.
Several proposals centered on prevention strategies, aiming to enhance public health through improved lifestyle habits. Physical activity and nutrition play a fundamental role not only in reducing cancer risk but also in enhancing the quality of life for patients undergoing oncological treatments, helping them maintain well-being over time.
Other research projects focused on identifying new pharmacological targets to develop more effective treatments, with a particular emphasis on lung cancer. The outstanding quality of these proposals resulted in a unanimous evaluation by the jury, with no need for extensive debate on the final ranking.
Prof. Rizzo concluded by emphasizing the importance of investing in young researchers, who represent the future of medicine and oncology research. Their dedication and passion are essential in driving innovation, from new preventive strategies to increasingly effective cancer therapies.
The Strongers Awards reaffirm their role as a crucial initiative for recognizing emerging talent and providing tangible support in the fight against cancer.
🔬✨ Investing in research means investing in the future.
Dr. Raffaele Giusti emphasized the significance of the Strongers For Research initiative and the value of the grant awarded to young oncology researchers.
While the €3000 financial contribution may seem modest compared to the overall costs of a scientific project, its impact is substantial for young specialists and recent graduates. This funding offers a concrete opportunity to participate in international conferences, engage with experts in the field, and enhance their knowledge base. Investing in the professional growth of these researchers not only accelerates scientific progress but also improves clinical practice, ultimately leading to better patient outcomes.
Dr. Giusti further highlighted that all the submitted projects were of exceptional quality and already active, demonstrating that the grant is not just a symbolic gesture but a real contribution to advancing ongoing research. These studies range from the identification of new therapeutic targets to analyzing the impact of therapies on patients’ daily lives, an often overlooked aspect of traditional research.
The Strongers Awards initiative, therefore, serves not only as support for scientific advancement but also as recognition of the social role of oncology research. Understanding how cancer affects patients’ lives, the daily challenges they face, and how to improve their overall experience is crucial for a more humane and effective approach to treatment.
In concluding his speech, Dr. Giusti expressed his gratitude to all the young oncologists who participated in the call for applications and extended his congratulations to the three winners of this edition, wishing that this award would serve as an additional motivation in their research journey and professional growth.
Project: “Time Toxicity in Ambulatory Cancer Care: A Patient Perspective”
Project: “Stratification response to immunotherapy patients through circulating immune System related transcripts and cfDNA methylation.”
Immune checkpoint blockers (ICB) have become the first-line treatment for patients with non-oncogene-
addicted NSCLC. The Keynote-024 trial demonstrated that pembrolizumab monotherapy is superior to chemotherapy in patients with aNSCLC and PD-L1 expression ≥50%, with a median overall survival (OS) of 26.3 months and a 5-year survival rate of 31.9%. Despite these excellent results, many patients either fail to respond (primary resistance) or develop disease progression after an initial response (secondary resistance).
Multiple studies have attempted to identify biological mechanisms underlying resistance, primarily focusing on single-gene mutations, but have not provided definitive answers. This approach overlooks the role of the immune system, which is a key player in immunotherapy. Currently, PD-L1 expression is the only routinely used predictive biomarker, but other proposed markers, such as Tumor Mutational Burden (TMB) and immune gene signatures, have yielded unsatisfactory results.
Numerous studies have tried to identify biological mechanisms underlying primary and secondary resistance to immunotherapy. The search for resistance biomarkers has, until now, mainly exploited the analysis of single-gene mutations by focusing on a comparison of biopsy samples from paired baseline and relapsing lesions.
This analysis has identified emerging mutations as potential tumor escape mechanisms without reaching definitive conclusions. However, this approach has numerous disadvantages, requiring high time and costs for the analysis and assuming a direct genotype-phenotype association. Furthermore, these approaches do not consider the changes in the co-protagonist of immunotherapy, i.e., the immune system. Cancer immuno-editing processes are complex and dynamic, arising from the interaction between the immune system and the tumor cell in its various components.
To date, the only predictive marker used routinely in clinical practice is the expression of the PD-L1 protein. Many other biomarkers have recently been proposed, such as Tumor Mutational Burden (TMB), mismatch repair status, absolute lymphocyte count, and tumor microenvironment immune-gene signatures. However, none of these, considered alone, have produced satisfactory results. Given the complexity of the interactions between the immune system and cancer cells, a single biomarker is unlikely to be sufficient to predict response to immunotherapy. Instead, integrating multiple tumors and immune system parameters, such as protein expression, genomics, transcriptomics, and post-transcriptional mechanism, may be the optimal approach to predict clinical benefits accurately. For this reason, measuring the different immune system regulations in NR, LR, and ER-LNR patients is necessary.
Our study aims to fill this gap by focusing on the relationship between ISR gene regulation and the pattern response to immunotherapy of NSCLC patients. To have a picture as precise as possible of the dynamic mechanisms of ISR transcripts regulation, the objective of our study will be to calculate their half-life using serial analyzes of their expression levels. Transcription regulation is one of the most finely regulated cellular mechanisms, responding dynamically to both exogenous (cellular stress, infections, drugs) and endogenous stimuli through a balance of production and degradation of mRNA. However, pharmacological inhibition of transcription or metabolic labeling is usually required to calculate the half-life of a transcript.
On the contrary, our approach will provide an innovative system that estimates the half-life of multiple transcripts in silico
without any pharmacological block. Estimating the transcripts’ half-life can help clarify the different regulatory mechanisms of each subgroup of patients.
We will also analyze the small non-coding RNAs and the cfDNA methylation of specific gene markers for immune infiltration at each point. Recent evidence has shown how profiling analysis of circulating non-coding RNAs can predict immune cell infiltration in patients with NSCLC and melanoma. Furthermore, recent studies have shown how CpG methylation of specific immune-related genes can predict the activation state of the immune system. Analyzing the complexity of gene regulatory networks at each point, we could have a dynamic picture of the ISR gene expression at any given time. The different regulatory mechanisms identified in each subgroup could have prognostic and predictive relevance and be used to develop potential treatments to overcome possible transcriptional blocks.
© 2024 – Strongers Social Club ETS – CF 96564050589 Rome – 00136 – Via Ruggero Fiore 38 – Italy
