An international team led by Poland has worked on the body’s natural defenses to find the key to defusing cancer cells
Cancer vaccine research has been ongoing for decades. The principle is that the body’s natural defenses can attack and destroy cancer cells. But every cancer is different, and some mechanisms of the human immune system are not yet fully understood. The challenge is both difficult and fascinating.
Following this line of research, an international team led by Prof. Natalia Marek-Trzonkowska of the University of Gdańsk has defined a specific trajectory: identifying, amplifying, and redeploying a patient’s own T-cells to target and destroy cancer with unprecedented precision. This research forms the core of the EU-funded CANVAS project, a multinational effort to turn the tide against non-small cell lung cancer. It is the most common type of lung cancer worldwide, accounting for around 85% of lung-cancer illnesses, with more than 2 million new cases, including over 300,000 in Europe, each year. On average, about 80% of people diagnosed with this type of lung cancer die within five years.
The “Mosquito and the Hammer”
The current front-line treatments, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, are often a blunt instrument. «Chemotherapy is less precise than biological therapies. It is like trying to kill a mosquito with a hammer – and the mosquito is sitting on your knee. You might miss it, or worse, hurt yourself», explains Dr. Natalia Marek-Trzonkowska, Director of the International Centre for Cancer Vaccine Science at the University of Gdańsk.
Her team’s method works in the opposite way: «We do not invent the wheel as it already exists», she says. The process involves finding and isolating the specific T-cells—immune cells that naturally patrol the body for threats—that are capable of recognizing and attacking cancerous cells. These potent cells are then multiplied in the laboratory and reinjected back into the patient.
CANVAS project kick off meeting and 5th birthday of IVCCS
This immunotherapy is a chance for a fully selective treatment, avoiding the devastating side effects of conventional therapies. Unlike genetically modified CAR-T cells, this approach uses fully natural T-cells that can target a broader range of cancer markers. «After cancer eradication most of these therapeutic cells will die, but some of them will stay in the body as memory cells», adds Professor Marek-Trzonkowska. «They will patrol the organism and fight the cancer again in case of the tumour renewal».
European collaboration for a global challenge
International Centre for Cancer Vaccine Science UG, with its CANVAS project, was selected to be a part of the Europe-wide campaign Science4EU. This campaign promotes European research achievements and the EU’s actions in support of them. The coordinating institution for the project was the University of Gdańsk. The University of Rome Tor Vergata (UNITOV) from Italy and the Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) from France were research partners. The University of Rome Tor Vergata brought extended knowledge of animal models to the table. The team from CEA is focused on bioinformatics and big data analysis, so they analyse genomic-transcriptomic data. The ICCVS team is experienced in T-cell-based therapies, as Prof. Natalia Marek-Trzonkowska has previously designed immunotherapy for type-1 diabetes. Joined efforts fostered new approaches to understanding cancer models’ role in designing effective therapy.
«The bigger the team, the bigger our chances», says Marek-Trzonkowska, highlighting the European spirit of the initiative. «We have already learned that it is not a shame to ask questions, because questions bring answers and that also brings knowledge».
This research initiative, which runs until March 2026, received €1.5 million from the EU
The research part of the project ended in September 2025, and the results are already promising. «The most important outcome, I believe, is that now we understand better what we can learn from cancer models to treat cancer in humans», notes Professor Marek-Trzonkowska, the director of ICCVS UG and coordinator of the project.
A key objective of CANVAS, in fact, is to better understand cancer models to design more effective therapies. «Many studies of cancer have been done in vitro and in animals, and they were successful, but when they were transferred to humans, they failed. And that’s why we designed this project», says the professor. «The CANVAS project enabled us to discover cancer’s unique features which are characteristic of the tumour after resection and also persist in cancer models».
The team acknowledges that cancer is a “tough opponent” that will try to suppress the therapeutic cells. Therefore, they are simultaneously working on a strategy to reprogram the hostile cancer environment. «The better we understand our enemy, the closer we are to defeating it or making it harmless», she concludes.
Mobilize the natural resources of the body
«The CANVAS project enabled us to discover cancer’s unique features which are characteristic of the tumour after resection and also persist in cancer models. Cancer models are used by researchers to study the safety and efficacy of anti-cancer approaches. It is extremely important to test the therapy in a model that resembles the real target. Previous studies on T-cell therapies in cancer were less precise, and the researchers were not aware of how much the model differs from the primary tumour and how to use the model in an optimal way to design the therapy. Our project brings new knowledge that is useful for the development of anti-cancer therapies and vaccines».
Immunotherapy poses a breakthrough in cancer treatment, as it uses self-cells of a patient to target cancer cells specifically. «Currently used chemo and radiotherapy target not only the cancer but are harmful to the healthy tissues, notably cells with fast proliferation rate», Professor Marek-Trzonkowska explains. «In consequence, they compromise the patients’immune system making him/her more prone to infections and weaken natural anti-cancer response of the body. Our approach works in opposite way. We mobilize the natural resources of the body. Use the cells which exist in the organism and are able to recognize and kill the cancer. We sort them from the patient blood and expand (multiply them) in the laboratory. Simultaneously, we activate these cells to make them more potent».
Natural T-cells vs. genetically modified CAR T-cells
Cancer immunotherapy so far used mostly so-called CAR T-cells, which were genetically modified. The approach ICCVS is working on uses fully natural T-cells that are able to target cancer unique antigens not only expressed on the cancer surface but also hidden inside the cancer cells; such antigens are not visible for CAR-T cells.
As Professor Marek Trzonkowska says, «Our therapy is a chance for fully selective treatment of the cancer, avoiding side effects. We use natural T-cells, which means that after cancer eradication most of these therapeutic cells will die, but some of them will stay in the body as memory cells. The latest will patrol the organism and fight the cancer again in case of the tumour renewal. Our work will not finish on generating anti-cancer T cells. We are aware that cancer is a tough opponent and will try to suppress the cells that we will use for the therapy. Therefore, simultaneously, we have been working on a strategy of reprogramming the cancer environment, which is hostile to therapeutic cells. We have been constantly learning cancer biology and tumour and immune cell interactions. The better we understand our enemy, the closer we are to defeating it or making it harmless».
