Defining the Genomic and Immunologic Landscape of Colorectal Cancer

Creating an informatics tool to better understand how genetic features shape immune response in colorectal cancer

Project summary

Colorectal cancer remains a significant cause of cancer occurrence and death in Canada, especially in the Atlantic Region. With research, we have already learned that the disease is different between patients, which means they need different therapies. Treatment decisions are now made based on the genetic features of a person’s tumour, and whether they have a family history of colorectal cancer. Colorectal tumours can spread and grow back after chemotherapy and surgery, but the immune system can help remove any tumour cells that remain. The immune system is a dynamic set of different kinds of cells that work together to rid the body of damaged, diseased, or infected cells. These cells can have different functions, so we are trying to understand how to best support the immune cells as they target colorectal cancer. I am partnering with scientists and physicians across the Atlantic provinces to study how the immune response in colorectal cancer is related to its genetic features. We are using cutting-edge technology to study the types of immune cells within colorectal cancer and how they interact with each other and tumour cells, testing to see whether this associates with the tumour’s genetic mutations. We will use computational analysis to combine treatment outcomes, genetic and immunologic analysis. With this approach, we expect to learn how to predict the best treatment for each patient.

Quotes

“I’m honored and excited to receive a 2024 MOHCCN Health Informatics & Data Science Award. This award will provide the support that we need to further develop our research in colorectal cancer. In this project, we aim to understand the link between tumour’s genetic mutations and the immune system’s composition and organization. We expect that this knowledge will help guide development of future immunotherapeutic approaches to fight this deadly disease.”

• Jorge Pinzón-Mejía, HI&DS Awardee

“Immunologic and genetic features drive colorectal cancer progression and response to treatment, but how those they interact and define tumour progression are unknown. Jorge’s research is uncovering how genetic features are associated with immunologic ones, and how immune cell subtypes interact with one another in the colorectal cancer microenvironment. With this, he can identify opportunities for more precise and comprehensive treatment by identifying the genetic and immunologic features that determine cancer progression.”

• Dr. Sherri Christian, mentor