The InFLAMES Flagship (Innovation Ecosystem based on the Immune System) is a joint effort of University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University aiming at being an internationally recognized, top-level, immunological research and development cluster which will be globally attractive both for the researchers and business partners.
Researchers at the University of Turku, Finland, showed that the antibody treatment reactivates the immune defense in patients with advanced-stage cancer. The treatment alters the function of the body’s phagocytes and facilitates extensive activation of the immune system.
The preliminary trial results of a novel radiopharmaceutical for PET imaging of inflammation developed at the University of Turku, Finland, have been published. The compound, which targets the vascular adhesion protein 1 (VAP-1) that regulates inflammatory cell traffic, is the first radiopharmaceutical that has been developed completely in Finland and has advanced to clinical trials. In the study that started with healthy volunteers, the radiopharmaceutical was found to be well tolerated and safe.
Recently published research has indicated that folate receptor targeting therapy constrains inflammation in inflammatory demyelinating central nervous system lesions and may inhibit progression of the disease in animal model of multiple sclerosis (MS). This research has been conducted in co-operation with Turku PET Centre, Purdue University and Endocyte Inc (now part of Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, NIBR).