Abstract
Immunotherapy shows great potential in the treatment of cancer. Unfortunately, primary resistance is frequently occurring, hence the urgent need for biomarkers. Fibroblast activation protein (FAP), an enzyme that is selectively expressed in cancer-associated fibroblasts in 90% of all human epithelial tumors, may become a promising predictive biomarker for immunotherapy resistance. However, to date, there are no validated, specific tools to determine FAP expression and/or activity within the tumor microenvironment (TME). Therefore, the first goal of this project, is the development of specific tools and accurate methods to detect FAP within the TME. We will develop 2 fluorescent FAP-assays, one based on a fluorescently labelled inhibitor and the other on a fluorescently labelled anti-FAP antibody. The third assay is based on a FAP-specific substrate for histochemistry that allows in situ amplification of the signal. Secondly, early detection of metastasis remains a major hurdle in diagnosis and there is an urgent need to explore new biomarkers of early metastasis. Recently, it is suggested that circulating FAP +cCAFs within the blood of metastatic patients could be interesting for that purpose. Nonetheless, no specific, accurate tools and techniques are available for identification and enrichment of FAP +cCAFs. Consequently, the second goal of this project is to develop new tools and methods to identify and enrich FAP+cCAFs in the peripheral blood of metastatic cancer patients
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