Roman Chabanon, a post-doctoral fellow in oncology, received the 2020 Bettencourt Young Researchers Prize for his work on cancer therapies targeting DNA repair.

Defects in DNA repair pathways and cancer cells

DNA carries our genetic information. Its integrity and stability are essential for our cells to function properly. Throughout our lives, our DNA is exposed to many factors that can damage it. Every cell in our body is constantly triggering mechanisms to repair it in order to protect our genome.

In cancer, the genes that control DNA repair are defective. The cancer cells’ DNA accumulates a large number of mutations that often promote their growth. But defects in DNA repair pathways also make cancer cells vulnerable to certain drugs, such as PARP inhibitors,

which block one of the mechanisms they use to repair their DNA, causing an accumulation of DNA damage that eventually triggers cell death. PARP inhibitors target this mechanism to selectively destroy cancer cells whose DNA repair is already deficient, such as in some lung, breast and ovarian cancers.

PARP inhibitors and immune system stimulation

Roman Chabanon discovered a second, previously unknown and unexplored property of PARP inhibitors: their ability to stimulate the immune system. He has shown that PARP inhibitors can trigger the recruitment of immune cells at the tumor site, thereby prompting the immune system to target it. This plays a key role in the anti-tumor mechanism of PARP inhibitors and opens up new prospects for using these targeted therapies on patients, especially in combination with immunotherapy.

During his post-doctorate, Dr. Chabanon wants to use new functional genomics techniques to deepen his research on therapies targeting DNA repair. His work will help extend the lives of people with aggressive cancers for which immunotherapy alone is sometimes ineffective, as in the case of some lung cancers.

"PARP inhibitors affect tumor cells’ interactions with their immunity microenvironment. This radically changes our view of their cancer-fighting potential." Roman Chabanon

Roman Chabanon in a few words

Roman Chabanon is a biochemical engineer and science PhD specializing in oncology. His passion for cancer biology began to develop while studying engineering at the National Institute of Applied Sciences in Toulouse. A strong desire to work in a meaningful profession that can help as many people as possible strengthened his scientific interest. He decided to pursue a PhD in oncology at the Gustave Roussy Institute in Villejuif in conjunction with the Institute of Cancer Research in London.

During his PhD work, he identified a new mechanism capable of stimulating the immune system with targeted anti-tumor therapies. Stimulating immunity improves immunotherapy results by strengthening its cancer-fighting action and making it easier for the immune system’s cells to infiltrate tumors.

His research led to a clinical trial to assess this therapy in lung cancer patients.

Bettencourt Prize for Young Researchers

Created in 1990, the Bettencourt Prize for Young Researchers is one of the first initiatives of the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller. Until 2021, this prize was awarded each year to 14 young doctors of science or doctors of medicine, to enable them to carry out their post-doctoral stay in the best foreign laboratories. 349 young researchers were distinguished. The prize endowment was €25,000.

All the award-winners