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HEDoctoral network2022–2026

TOLERATE · An integrated approach to restore tolerance in autoimmune disease

Horizon Europe — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2022-10-01 → 2026-09-30
EU contribution
€2,109,650
Participants
18
Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-DN

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Results in brief

An integrated approach to restore tolerance in autoimmune disease

The TOLERATE training network aims to equip Doctoral Candidates (DCs) with the skills to develop innovative strategies for treating autoimmune diseases. This includes identifying the most promising strategies or combinations, setting up clinical trials with diagnostics for patient selection and trial enrichment, and creating a roadmap to bring new therapeutic agents to market. This will be achieved in a highly interdisciplinary and intersectoral environment. Interdisciplinarity allows for the introduction of innovative antigen-specific immune therapies, such as Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR)-T cell therapies originally developed for cancer, into the realm of autoimmune diseases. It also enables the application of nanotechnology and tolerogenic vaccines to re-establish immune tolerance in autoimmune diseases. The collaboration between academia and industry provides a platform for in-depth preclinical studies focused on the development and future commercialization of novel therapies. Clinical key opinion leaders in the consortium will ensure that the therapies developed in TOLERATE reach the clinic. A thorough understanding of the long-term consequences of living with an autoimmune disease is crucial for designing new therapies. Since many autoimmune diseases are rare, establishing international uniform databases and biobanks is essential to understand the long-term pathophysiology of these diseases and to ensure the optimal use of new therapies. The presence of a renowned autoimmune disease reference center will help address this unmet need. The autoimmune disease immune-mediated thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (iTTP), characterized by a single self-antigen, will be central to TOLERATE, with academic and clinical experts who are world leaders in this field.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

The TOLERATE training network aims at training DC’s to acquire the skills to develop different innovative strategies to treat autoimmune diseases, to identify the most promising strategies or a combination of strategies, to setup clinical trials and to develop a roadmap to bring a novel therapeutic agent to the market. This all will be done in a highly interdisciplinary and intersectoral environment. Interdisciplinarity allows to introduce innovative tolerogenic therapies developed for cancer, Chimer Antigen Receptor (CAR)-T cell therapies, into the world of autoimmune disease and to apply nanotechnology and protein-engineered tolerogenic vaccines to re-establish immune tolerance in autoimmune disease. Both the presence of academia and industry provides a platform for in-depth preclinical studies and a realistic possibility for future commercialization of the novel therapies. Clinicians in the consortium with expertise in setting-up and running clinical trials for novel drugs assure that developed novel therapies in TOLERATE will find their way to the clinic in the future. Developing novel therapies for autoimmune diseases goes close together with a thorough knowledge on the long-term consequences of living with an autoimmune disease. Since many autoimmune diseases are rare diseases, setting up international uniform databases and biobanks is crucial to understand the long-term pathophysiology of the disease and to guarantee optimal use of (novel) therapies. TOLERATE will train 8 DCs who will hence has the expertise and skills to work in and setup interdisciplinary and intersectoral projects. The ground-breaking training programme will provide the DC’s with a unique clinical training. Additional training in ethical, regulatory and legal aspects together with a training in innovation management of therapeutics and diagnostics for autoimmune diseases will prepare the DCs for the European job market.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN · LeuvenCoordinatorBelgium
  • AHEAD THERAPEUTICS SL · CERDANYOLA DEL VALLESSpain
  • ANICELLS · NIELBelgium
  • ASSISTANCE PUBLIQUE HOPITAUX DE PARIS · ParisFrance
  • Biokit Research & Development S.L.U. · Llica d'AmuntSpain
  • EUROPEAN HEMATOLOGY ASSOCIATION · DEN HAAGNetherlands
  • HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM DRESDEN-ROSSENDORF EV · DresdenGermany
  • INNOVATION ACTA SRL · SIENAItaly
  • Immudex ApsDenmark
  • ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS IN IRELAND · DUBLIN 2Ireland
  • SEMMELWEIS EGYETEM · BudapestHungary
  • SORBONNE UNIVERSITE · ParisFrance
  • STICHTING AMSTERDAM UMC · AmsterdamNetherlands
  • Stichting Sanquin Bloedvoorziening · AmsterdamNetherlands
  • TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET DRESDEN · DresdenGermany
  • UNIVERSITAT AUTONOMA DE BARCELONA · Cerdanyola Del VallesSpain
  • UNIVERSITEIT ANTWERPEN · AntwerpenBelgium
  • UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM · AmsterdamNetherlands

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union