KQ3 – How can antibody efficacy be increased using combinations?
(Laurent Gros, Denis Mulleman)
KQ3 objectives are to investigate how therapeutic antibodies can be associated with other antibodies (against different targets) or other pharmaceuticals to improve the patient management. Indeed, therapeutic antibodies are frequently used in combination with other biopharmaceuticals or therapies (small molecules, radiotherapy, engineered cells). KQ3 main challenges in cancer are: i) to define the optimal combination (proactive strategy) using predictive biomarkers, and ii) to adapt the treatment in the case of relapse, to increase the tumour sensitivity to the treatment (reactive strategy). In inflammation, the challenge is to reduce the occurrence of unwanted reactions to therapeutic antibodies, such as immunogenicity (with TNF inhibitors) and immune-mediated reactions (with checkpoint inhibitors). KQ3 will also develop strategies to increase the vaccine-like effect of therapeutic antibodies in the context of respiratory diseases. Based on the main achievements and expertise of KQ3 teams, KQ3 has been organised in three axes: targeting tumour cells (axis 1), targeting infectious or inflammatory cells (axis 2), and targeting the immune or non-immune microenvironment (axis 3).
Flagship project