Admission requirements
See Brightspace for the admission requirements.
International Students should have an adequate background in Medicine and Immunology. Admission will be considered based on CV and motivation letter.
For more information, please contact internationalisering@lumc.nl.
Description
In this half minor, students will learn the immunological principles and working mechanisms of anti-cancer immunotherapies that are currently used in the clinic or under development. The effector mechanisms will be addressed, but also why certain anti-cancer strategies give rise to serious side effects. In addition to non-specific stimulation of innate immunity, students will study antigen-specific approaches and how antibodies and T-lymphocytes can be exploited to combat cancer. Checkpoint inhibitors, gene therapy, and oncolytic viruses will be discussed as well as allogeneic stem cell transplantation, which is a form of immunotherapy in which a healthy donor-derived immune system is transplanted to treat leukemia or other hematological malignancies.
Course objectives
- Explain how interactions between different components of the immune system lead to a functional immune response (academic expert);
- Consider the balance between (potential) efficacy and toxicity to evaluate the relevance of different tumor antigens for immunotherapy of cancer by searching the literature and public databases (academic expert and collaborator);
- Estimate the contribution of different components of the innate immune system in anti-tumor responses and explain their potential application for therapy of cancer by searching the literature (academic expert, communicator);
- Relate the type of antigens and immunological responses as exploited in (novel) therapies of cancer to evaluate (potential) clinical benefits and undesired side effects for the patient (academic expert, communicator, collaborator);
- Deduce from a patient’s history which type (or failure) of immunological response may explain clinical behavior of the malignancy or occurrence of undesired side effects after therapy (medical expert);
- Compare different immunotherapies, evaluate their (potential) benefits and threats, and propose improvements (academic expert, communicator, collaborator).
Timetable
All course and group schedules are published on MyTimeTable.
The exam dates have been determined by the Education Board and are published in MyTimeTable.
It will be announced in MyTimeTable and/or Brightspace when and how the post-exam feedback will be organized.
Mode of instruction
Lectures, workgroups, patient demonstrations, visit (out)patient clinic, and visit diagnostic laboratory.
Assessment method
Essay questions
The exam consists of open questions based on a pre-evaluated question-and-answer model.
Rating: mark 1-10 (15% of the final grade)
Assessed by: two coordinators of the half minor
Oral presentations
The oral presentation on the literature review will be prepared in small groups of 3-4 students.
Rating: mark 1-10 (counts for 10% of the final grade).
Assessment: each student will be assessed individually using specific rubrics for oral presentations.
Assessed by: two teachers coaching the literature review.
Literature study
Students will be divided into small groups of 3-4 students, and write a literature review on a specific type of immunotherapy. There will be one or two coaching moments.
Rating: mark 1-10 (counts for 20% of the final grade)
Assessment: each student will be assessed individually using specific rubrics for the literature review.
Assessed by: two teachers coaching the literature review.
Final exam
The exam consists of multiple-choice questions based on a pre-evaluated question-and-answer model. Questions address different topics presented during lectures in the course.
Rating: mark 1-10 (counts for 15% of the final grade).
Assessed by: two coordinators of the half minor
Research Protocol
The final assignment is a research protocol consisting of a clinical study designed to treat cancer patients with a novel form of immunotherapy and concomitant research to learn about the efficacy or working mechanism of the new therapy. There will be one or two coaching moments.
Rating: mark 1-10 (counts for 40% of the final grade).
Assessment: each student will be assessed individually using specific rubrics for the research protocol.
Assessed by: two teachers coaching the research protocol.
Examination committee: Dr. N.F. de Miranda & Dr. M. Griffioen
Reading list
For the complete reading list for the bachelor of Medicine, see the Study Materials List GNK 2024-2025.
Registration
Information about the registration process can be found on the Brightspace course Half Minors.
Contact
Noel de Miranda,
Pathology, researcher
N.F.de_Miranda@ lumc.nl
Marieke Griffioen
Hematology, researcher
M.Griffioen@lumc.nl