The renowned Australian-American oncologist, Professor Richard G. Pestell, President of the Pennsylvania Cancer and Regenerative Medicine Center, gave the opening lecture of the II. Oncology Workshop of the Chemistry Coordination Institute of the University of Debrecen, entitled CCR5-Inhibitory Therapy in Metastatic Cancer: Preparation of the Tumour Microenvironment.
In response to the question of hirek.unideb.hu, the professor said that he found the conference to be extremely well-organized and thought-provoking, and that it provided an excellent basis for collaboration between different fields of expertise.
- The advantage of conferences of this type is that experts with different scientific backgrounds and different perspectives review one given problem. That is why multidisciplinary institutions, like the University of Debrecen, are an ideal environment, since it is easier to find a common answer to a long-standing question across such a broad spectrum- said Richard G. Pestell. He added- based on the discussions after the opening lecture, numerous forward-looking collaborations on the topic could be launched between domestic and international researchers.
The professor recalled that he first visited Debrecen 12 years ago and has since conducted numerous joint research projects with Hungarian professionals, including the director of the Chemistry Coordination Institute, Professor Péter Nagy, and the other invited speaker of the workshop, Professor Péter Tompa.
- We were already involved in this research area back then and have come a long way since then: we conducted pre-clinical studies, and then clinical studies, which brought about remarkable results. This led to the breakthrough discovery that the CCR5 GPCR receptor plays an important role in the fight against breast cancer. In this research, we managed to develop a therapy using the anti-CCR5 monoclonal antibody Leronlimab, which significantly reduces the side effects during the treatment, and the therapy consists of only one injection- Professor Richard G. Pestell explained.
The oncologist also mentioned that after the conference, he met with Chancellor Zoltán Bács, the next rector of the university, and György Kossa, chairman of the board of trustees of the foundation that maintains the institution. They discussed his future role in the university’s scientific and innovation activities.
- In the joint work, we will mainly focus on targeted therapies and co-therapies based on molecular diagnostics, which will provide much more precise treatment for cancer patients- the professor pointed out.
Richard G. Pestell agreed to assist the work of PhD students engaged in oncology research and to support the future utilization of developments in the field.
Press Centre - TPL