Ana Pinto receives ImmunoTools special Award 2014

Ana Pinto has been awarded by ImmunoTools with the IT-Special- Award. ImmunoTools is a biotechnological company, which has been promoting the scientific research, by offering the opportunity to win a selection of products tailored for each applied project.

The award was integrated in the project untitled ”The role of radiotherapy on macrophages and on macrophage-cancer cell communication”. Briefly, in colorectal cancer, neoadjuvant radiotherapy improves locoregional control but has little or no effect on the development of distant metastases, which constitute the major cause of death. To design more efficient therapeutic tools, attention has to be paid to the other elements of the tumor ecosystem, also targets of those therapies, which may modulate and be modulated by treatment, or by the response of the cancer cells themselves.

The ImmunoTools collection of reagents will be crucial to evaluate the main changes induced by radiation on macrophage migration, which is a highly relevant process for macrophage recruitment to tumours. Therefore, our work will bring new insights on how radiotherapy modulates macrophage behavior and how this affects macrophage/cancer cell communication, opening new perspectives for therapeutic intervention.