Together, we can outsmart cancer!
I want to thank all those who have already donated and encourage those who can to continue supporting cancer research. Your contributions give hope to patients and their families.
Immunotherapy and Virotherapy to Save Lives
My team and I are working to better understand how the immune system fights cancer. Thanks to your support, we’ve uncovered key mechanisms that could make these treatments more effective. Immunotherapy doesn’t work for all patients, which is why we continue our research. Your donations are essential for developing innovative solutions that could save thousands of lives.
Dr. Michele Ardolino
Associate Professor, University of Ottawa, Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology
Senior Scientist, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
The research project my team is working on aims to understand how the immune system help fight cancer. Thanks to the generosity of donors like you, we’ve made fascinating discoveries that we hope will transform how we treat cancer in the future.
You might have heard of immunotherapy, and how successful it has been. Unfortunately, immunotherapy doesn’t work for all patients. We are convinced that to improve the effectiveness of immunotherapy treatments, it’s essential to better understand the way it actually works. This is what we are doing, with your financial support through the Cancer Research Society.
A Discovery That Brings Hope
We have uncovered one of these important mechanisms: a molecule often targeted by immunotherapy drives tumor cells to increase their sugar consumption to survive in low-oxygen conditions. This sugar dependence creates a vulnerability, and we are working to exploit it by using viruses to attack these cells via oncolytic virotherapy.
Our early experiments show that combining immunotherapy with oncolytic virotherapy is more effective than using either treatment alone.
Your Support Matters
Thanks to your donations, we have received funding at both the early and advanced stages of our research, ensuring reliable financial support to plan the long, complex experiments necessary for our project.
