Research

The team Immuno-Molecular and Cellular Therapeutics for Cancers (TIM-C)

(University of Burgundy-Franche Comte, EFS, INSERM UMR1098)

The TIM-C team is one of the two teams comprising the UMR "host-graft-tumor Interactions – cell and gene engineering" (UMR1098) created in 2009 within the Establishment Français of Sang (EFS-BFC) and accredited as UMR1098 by INSERM. It is made up of 4 sub-groups:

1. Antigens and immune responses, directed by Pr. Olivier Adotevi;
   
   
2. Biomarkers and immunological biotherapies, directed by Pr.Christophe Borg;
   
   
3. A research group dedicated to the role of autophagy in the presentation of antigens and the regulation of the tumor microenvironment (Pr. Michael Boyer-Guittaut);
   
   
4. Biostatistics and methodology for the development of biotherapies and the evaluation of quality of life (Pr. Franck Bonnetain).

The scientific themes of the UMR1098 are related to inflammation and immunity, in the context of transplantation and cancer. Initially, UMR1098 focused on allogenic immune responses and their regulation (graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after the transplantation of stem cells, or host reactions against the graft in the transplantation of solid organs, the effect of grafts against leukemia (GVL), as well as reactions after transfusions. The TIM-C team is conducting a research program dedicated to the identification of antigens or of molecular signaling pathways implicated in the initiation and the regulation of immune responses against cancer. The aim is to study the prognostic value of specific molecular/ immune signaling responses and to develop immunologic therapeutic strategies in oncology and hematology. It is thus developing projects concerning therapies based on immune cells and medicinal therapy products (ATMP), including allogenic Natural Killer (NK) cells, T lymphocytes and monocyte-derived suppressor cells.

The work of the team UMR1098 has made a particular contribution to the development of a new technology for the of analysis of antigen-specific CD4 TH1 T lymphocytes (Godet et al Clinical Res 2012, Beziaud L et al Cancer Res 2016), to the analysis of the impact of STAT3 in the prognosis of colorectal cancers (Bedel R et al Cancer Res 2011 and Dobi et al Clin Col Cancer 2013) and the validation of models to better understand the prognosis of patients (Jary et al CEBP 2005, Vienot A et al JNCI 2017 in review).

Contacts: Olivier Adotevi | Christophe Borg 
UMR 1098 website