Jean-Philippe Girard receives the Grand Prize for Cancer Research from the Toulouse Cancer Santé Foundation
Jean-Philippe Girard (Inserm) has received the Grand Prize for Cancer Research from the Toulouse Cancer Health Foundation, in recognition of an outstanding career and his pioneering discoveries on HEV vessels in immunotherapy.
For several years, his team has been exploring the biology of dendritic cells and high endothelial venules (HEVs). They first showed that dendritic cells, beyond their role as antigen-presenting cells, contribute to the regulation of HEV vessels in lymph nodes (Nature, 2011), and later identified, using single-cell RNA sequencing, the genes involved in their dialogue with endothelial cells (Cell Reports, 2019).
The team then highlighted the frequent presence of tumor-associated HEV vessels (TA-HEVs) in human solid cancers, particularly breast cancer, and their link with lymphocyte infiltration and improved clinical outcomes (Cancer Research, 2011). This work introduced an entirely new concept in oncology: certain vessels within the tumor microenvironment can actually slow tumor progression rather than promote it.
More recently, the researchers demonstrated that TA-HEVs facilitate the entry of lymphocytes into tumors and enhance the effectiveness of immunotherapy, particularly in patients with metastatic melanoma treated with anti-PD-1/anti-CTLA-4 cancer immunotherapy (Cancer Cell, 2022).
These discoveries pave the way for new therapeutic strategies based on the modulation of TA-HEVs, with the potential to strengthen antitumor immunity and improve patient response to immunotherapies.
Founded in 2005 and recognized as a public-interest organization by decree on May 5, 2006, the Toulouse Cancer Santé Foundation aims to fund research projects serving the cancer research community in Toulouse, particularly at the Oncopole site.
For the first time, the Toulouse Cancer Santé Foundation has created the Research Prizes, designed to honor researchers and physicians whose work contributes to advancing the fight against cancer. Four awards were presented this year, covering the main fields of cancer research. Among them, the Grand Prize for Cancer Research, sponsored by the StellaGroup Foundation, recognizes a researcher or physician whose work has had a major impact on the understanding of cancer or on improving patient care.
