The CIEL project (Immune escape and innate immunity in lymphoma), builds on the important research work previously carried out by the team on the mechanisms of immune escape (IE) in malignant lymphomas, and in particular on the development of a multiparametric molecular probe (called IEGS for Immune Escape Gene Set) including several genes involved in IE and allowing the measurement of the amplitude of IE mechanisms.
Pointing to a deregulation of immune checkpoints in B cell lymphomas, IEGS allows to define different immuno-evasion profiles in lymphomas associated with significantly different prognoses and could be used as a biomarker of the immune response in cohorts of lymphoma patients.
The objectives of the CIEL project:

• To demonstrate that the deregulation of immune checkpoints concerns not only the cells of adaptive immunity but also those of innate immunity,
• to study (notably by means of experimental three-dimensional models) the functional impact of this deregulation on the anti-tumour cytotoxic response
• and identify one or more predictive biomarkers of response to immunotherapy in cohorts of lymphoma patients followed at the IUCT.

The CIEL project is coordinated by Dr.Camille Laurent (IUCT-O Anatomopathology Laboratory) and Dr. Jean-Jacques Fournié (CRCT team 9). It has received support of €100,000 from the Claudius Regaud Institute / University Cancer Institute of Toulouse-Oncopole.