Lay summary
Many modern cancer treatments try to help the immune system attack cancer, but they only work if the body already has the right immune cells. Many patients do not, so expensive treatments often fail.
This project will test a new way of preparing the immune system in advance. We analyse a patient’s tumour to find what makes it different from healthy tissue, then grow new immune cells from a blood sample that can recognise those cancer targets. These cells are designed to behave like healthy immune memory, an approach we call implantable immune memory, so they can last and respond over time.
By giving patients these cancer-fighting memory cells first, existing checkpoint immunotherapies and cancer vaccines have something reliable to act on. This could make treatment more predictable and effective. We will test whether this tumour-to-immune-memory approach can work across patients and support a new generation of personalised cancer therapy.