Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: New EU project designed to link diagnosis and treatment of diseases over the long term: Joint research project aims at the improvement of companion diagnostics and therapy of tumor diseases

Home > Press > New EU project designed to link diagnosis and treatment of diseases over the long term: Joint research project aims at the improvement of companion diagnostics and therapy of tumor diseases

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Abstract:
An international team from four EU countries plans to use an innovative concept to improve the use of companion diagnostics in disease and develop new approaches to therapy in the long term. The idea is to combine the use of nanomedicines and short half-life radionuclides for imaging purposes in the living organism. First the nanomedicines, in the form of synthetic nanoparticles or antibodies, are introduced in the body where they actively or passively accumulate in certain organisms or cells. The second stage involves the delivery of a radioactive substance. Where the substance encounters the nanoparticles, a rapid chemical reaction occurs and the two bind together, while the remainder of the substance is eliminated from the body. With the help of an imaging technique, it is now possible to precisely pinpoint where the nanoparticles are located, to what extent they have accumulated at the target site, and what effect they are having on the disease pathology. The EU is funding the project to the tune of EUR 6 million over the next five years. Participating are physicians and clinicians from Copenhagen, chemists at TU Wien, and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), together with commercial partners from Austria and the Netherlands. The project was launched with the clear ambition of transferring the technology into clinical practice.

New EU project designed to link diagnosis and treatment of diseases over the long term: Joint research project aims at the improvement of companion diagnostics and therapy of tumor diseases

Mainz, Germany | Posted on November 23rd, 2015

The research consortium aims at improving companion diagnostics and, at the same time, reducing exposure of patients to radioactivity to an absolute minimum. Companion diagnostics are tools in the form of medical devices that are used to assess medications in advance and can help determine which patients are likely to benefit from a treatment. For example, it is already possible to treat HER2-positive breast cancer using antibody therapy with relatively high therapeutic success rates. However, only about 20 percent of all breast tumors are HER2-positive and the treatment is very expensive. It is thus advisable to first establish whether a patient is HER2-positive before initiating the therapy. Companion diagnostics can thus be used to determine if an individual patient is suitable for a specific form of therapy and would benefit from it or whether an alternative form of treatment should be preferred. In addition, the outcome of the therapy can be subsequently visualized. It is thus possible that the project may also contribute towards the future development of medicines that are more effective, more rapid, and less expensive.

"The system we are proposing would allow us to do far more than simply determine exactly where the nanoparticles are in the body," explained polymer chemist Dr. Matthias Barz of the Institute of Organic Chemistry at Mainz University, who is involved in the project. "There is the imaging factor that will allow us to see where our nanoparticles with their specific function are located in the body. And, eventually, it should at some point be possible to use our approach in radiotherapy – making it truly unique."

The two cooperation partners in Mainz, Dr. Matthias Barz and Professor Rudolf Zentel, are contributing their expertise in the production of microparticles of nanoparticles with specific functions. The European Union is making EUR 300,000 available over the next three years to fund their project.

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About Universität Mainz
With about 35,000 students from about 130 nations, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) is one of the ten largest universities in Germany. As the only comprehensive university in Rhineland-Palatinate, JGU combines almost all academic disciplines under one roof, including the Mainz University Medical Center, the School of Music, and the Mainz Academy of Arts. This is a unique feature in the German academic landscape. With 75 fields of study and a total of 242 degree courses, including 106 Bachelor’s and 116 Master’s degree programs, JGU offers an extraordinarily broad range of courses. Some 4,150 academics, including 540 professors, teach and conduct research in JGU's more than 150 departments, institutes, and clinics (as of December 1, 2011; financed by federal and third-party funding).

JGU is a globally renowned research university of national and international recognition. This reputation comes thanks to its outstanding individual researchers as well as extraordinary research achievements in the field of particle and hadron physics, materials sciences, translational medicine, the life sciences, media disciplines, and historical cultural studies.

JGU’s scientific prowess has been affirmed by its success in the Excellence Initiative by the German federal and state governments to promote top-level research at German universities: Mainz University is one of 23 universities in Germany that have received approval for a so-called Cluster of Excellence as well as approval for a Graduate School of Excellence. The Cluster of Excellence on "Precision Physics, Fundamental Interactions and Structure of Matter" (PRISMA), which is primarily a collaboration between particle and hadron physicists, and the Graduate School of Excellence "MAterials Science IN MainZ" (MAINZ) are considered among the elite research groups worldwide. These two projects will receive financing to the tune of EUR 50 million by 2017.

The university's good positions in national and international rankings and the award of numerous research prizes are further confirmation of the importance and success of the research being conducted by JGU-based academics. This success has been made possible in part through the unique large-scale research equipment available at Mainz University, such as the TRIGA light water research reactor and the MAMI electron accelerator, which both attract researchers from around the world. The research-oriented teaching – with targeted and early integration of research content into the curriculum – is another key element of the JGU philosophy.

JGU is the sole German university of this size to combine almost all institutes on one campus, while also housing four partner research institutions that conduct cutting-edge research outside the organizational structure of the university itself. There are also on-campus student dormitories and childcare facilities. The clinical and clinical/theory institutes of the Mainz University Medical Center are located within roughly one kilometer of the campus.

JGU lives the notion of a civic university being an integral part of society and collaborating with the community it is part of. This means that it also provides lifelong learning programs and promotes timely and comprehensive knowledge and technology transfer.

Founded in 1477 during the era of Johannes Gutenberg and reopened after a 150-year break in 1946 by the French forces then based in Germany, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz owes much to the man whose name it bears and his achievements. With his achievements in mind, the university strives to promote and implement innovative ideas, to help improve people’s living conditions through knowledge, to facilitate their access to education and science, and to encourage people to transcend the many restraints that they encounter on a daily basis.

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Contacts:
Dr. Matthias Barz
Institut für Organische Chemie
+49 6131 39-26256

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