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IMMUcan, Petit Bruxelles (2025)

18/07/2025

It’s been more than a year since the study by Amelie Franken and colleagues was featured on the cover of Immunity (Cell Press), and its relevance to the research community continues to grow.

Using IMMUcan’s unique resources, the team applied high-resolution single-cell technologies (cRNA-seq, scT/BCR-seq, spatial transcriptomics, and proteomics) to dissect the immune microenvironment in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).

Key discovery: Early response to anti-PD-L1/anti-CTLA-4 combination therapy hinges on CD4+ T cell activation and lymph node-derived recruitment, rather than solely intratumoral events. This insight has opened new research avenues into spatially and temporally orchestrated immune dynamics.

Over the past year, we’ve seen growing evidence of this study’s scientific traction and translational potential. More publications based on IMMUcan data are expected later this year, deepening our understanding of immune landscapes across cancers and accelerating translational insights.

Revisit the original article here: https://www.cell.com/issue/S1074-7613(23)X0004-1 #

26/05/2025

Hello from the IMMUcan team! 👋 The consortium gathered last week for our annual General Assembly. We had two days knowledge exchange, scientific updates, and future planning.

Key moments included:

🔹 A comprehensive overview of curated clinical, molecular, and cellular data;
🔹 In-depth sessions on colorectal, lung, head & neck, breast, and renal cancers cohort analyses;
🔹 AI-based analysis of H&E images;
🔹 Discussions on deep profiling, biosamples access, data upload, and trial integration;
🔹 A look ahead at final deliverables, sustainability plans, and public data sharing;
🔹 And a focus on communication and dissemination.

As IMMUcan enters its final year, these discussions shape how we share data, publish findings, and build a sustainable research legacy.

Thank you to our host, GSK, and to all consortium partners for their continued contributions and collaboration!

12/12/2024

Daniel Schulz, from the Bodenmiller lab (Department of Quantitative Biomedicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland) will present some work done within the IMMUcan project at the Inaugural Conference of the European Society for Spatial Biology (ESSB), taking place on the 12th and 13th of December, in Berlin.

The research presented at the conference provides a first comparison of the tumor microenvironment of 1,200 cancer patients across three cancer indications.

Notably, within a cohort of non-small cell lung cancer patients, the team has developed a simple prognostic score to quantify T cell infiltration heterogeneity across whole slide images.

The findings indicate that uniform T cell infiltration correlates with signs of inflammation and tumour reactivity, while non-uniformly infiltrated tumours reveal reduced dendritic cells, increased fibroblasts, and heightened expression of collagen-related genes.

IMMUcan is set to generate one of the richest and most standardised multiplexed imaging and multi-omic datasets to date, enabling detailed characterisation of the tumour microenvironment across different tumour types.

01/11/2024

Hello from Brussels! From Monday, October 28th, to Wednesday, October 30th, the Scientific Advisory Board and the Scientific Committee of IMMUcan came together for an in-person meeting in Brussels, Belgium, at the headquarters of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC).

During these three days, our team engaged in in-depth discussions about the progress achieved across all work streams. We also explored prospective research directions that could shape our future initiatives.

The collaborative atmosphere welcomed a rich exchange of ideas, with participants sharing insights and recommendations aimed at amplifying our research outcomes and boosting the impact of our work.

Exciting times ahead for IMMUcan!

25/10/2024

In honour of , the IMMUcan team is proud to share the progress made in our breast cancer work stream.

IMMUcan includes three breast cancer cohorts:

🔹BC1: 123 Metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer (mTNBC) patients, treated in 1st line with chemotherapy or chemotherapy+immunotherapy

🔹BC2: 406 patients with localised Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC, stages I to III).

🔹BC3: 337 patients with localised Her2+ breast cancer (stages I to III).

The ImmuneLandscape Laboratory contributes by developing multiplex immunofluorescence panels to study tumour microenvironments. These panels map cellular interactions within tumours, providing essential data for personalising cancer treatments.

Our dedicated research team at CHUV Lausanne University Hospital) - Stéphanie Tissot, Sylvie Rusakiewicz, Lucie Despland, Preethi Devanand, and Abdelkader Benyagoub - uses this information to improve breast cancer therapies.

Additionally, Dr Andrea Joaquin Garcia (Institut Jules Bordet) shared her findings at ESMO24, showcasing how insights from the tumor microenvironment enhance therapeutic decision-making.

IMMUcan is establishing a sustainable platform and a legal framework to support future research, empowering the scientific community to access and expand upon this data.

A heartfelt thank you to the clinicians, researchers, and to the and their families who make this project possible.

11/10/2024

At the end of September, IMMUcan was showcased during the 7th edition of UroCCR’s Scientific Days.

Our colleagues, Dr. Marie Morfouace (Gustave Roussy, EORTC) presented the overall progress of the project, while Dr.Jane Merlevede (Institut Curie) and Dr Gaëlle Margue (CHU de Bordeaux) delivered an in-depth presentation on the renal cancer work stream of the project.

We extend our gratitude to the organisers and fellow researchers for the opportunity to share our advancements with the scientific community. Such collaborations are essential for exchanging ideas and driving forward the collective mission to improve cancer outcomes.

01/10/2024

The end of August marked a milestone in the story of IMMUcan: we are thrilled to announce that patient recruitment was successfully completed!

From the first steps of planning to enrolling , we've witnessed remarkable collaboration and perseverance over the years.

Now, our operational team is working on finalising sample collection, with the aim to have all samples sent to our labs for analysis by the end of the year.

We expect to analyse data coming from 1450 to 1500 SPECTA patients – a crucial work that will propel our research forward. In addition, considering the 1100 patients from external collaborations, IMMUcan will generate molecular and datasets from over 2600 cancer patients.

As we look forward to the discoveries ahead, we extend our gratitude to our dedicated team for their hard work and to our participants for their invaluable contributions.

16/09/2024

HAPPENING NOW: IMMUcan at

Andrea Joaquin Garcia shares findings from her recent study focusing on triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) at the ESMO Congress.

In this particular study, the team analysed data from 73 patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) using advanced techniques like RNA sequencing and imaging mass cytometry (IMC).

Key Findings:

- The spatial organisation of immune and tumour cells plays a critical role in predicting responses to chemotherapy in TNBC.

- Specific patterns, such as the presence of CD8+ T-cells and plasma cells, are associated with better chemotherapy responses.

- Blood vessels and fibroblasts are linked to residual disease after treatment.

The findings emphasize the value of spatial analysis for predicting treatment outcomes and offer potential pathways for personalised therapies in TNBC.

13/09/2024

IMMUcan at

We are proud to announce that this year, our colleague, Andrea Joaquín García, will represent IMMUcan at European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2024.

Andrea will present a poster on Monday, September 16th, showcasing groundbreaking insights from the IMMUcan project, with a particular focus on triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).

Participating in prestigious scientific conferences like ESMO allows us to engage meaningfully with the broader scientific community, in a dialogue that contributes to improved patient outcomes.

06/09/2024

Exciting September for IMMUcan!

We are pleased to announce that our research will be represented at four prestigious events this September, with our team member, Dr Ewa Szczurek, invited as a speaker. The presentations will focus on cutting-edge models, FACTM, Cellohood, and Spacelet, all of which are designed to advance multi-modal data integration and spatial biology.

Upcoming Events:

📌 EMBO Workshop on The Spatial Biology of Cancer: 1-3 September 2024
📌 Ascona Workshop: Spatial and Temporal Statistical Modelling in Molecular Biology: 8-13 September 2024
📌 Symposium of the Polish Bioinformatics Society: 11-13 September 2024
📌 Bertinoro Computational Biology (BCB) Meeting: 16-20 September 2024

At these events, Dr Ewa Szczurek and her team will present:

🔍 FACTM (Factor Analysis and Correlated Topic Model): FACTM is a new tool developed to help make sense of complex data, especially when looking at images of individual cells. It works by finding common patterns and important groups within the data, which helps us better understand how different types of cells are organised and interact in their environment.

🎯 Cellohood & Spacelet: The team will also be sharing updates on two other tools, Cellohood and Spacelet. These tools are used to analyse different types of biological data, both from images and other sources. The team will be discussing new findings from Spacelet’s analysis of lung cancer data, building on previous work with breast cancer showcased at ESMO 2023.

03/07/2024

Up to this point, IMMUcan teams have collected blood and tissue samples from over 2000 patients, with more to be enrolled in the coming months.

By studying samples from large cohorts of patients, as well as their clinical information, the project seeks to identify and mechanisms that can inform better, personalised treatment strategies, making them more effective, safer, and more accessible.

What would you like to find out next about the work carried out in IMMUcan? Let us know in the comments below!

20/06/2024

We are thrilled to announce a significant milestone for the IMMUcan project – we have enrolled our 2000th patient! This achievement not only advances our mission to revolutionise cancer treatment but also marks the largest immuno-profiling effort in Europe to date.

With each new enrolment, we move closer to understanding the complexities of cancer and developing future personalised treatments that improve patient outcomes.

We thank our patients and clinicians for being part of this journey! Make sure to stay tuned, as we will share more insights from our research: https://immucan.eu/

IMMUcan

18/07/2025

26/05/2025

12/12/2024

01/11/2024

25/10/2024

11/10/2024

01/10/2024

16/09/2024

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