Targeting TRC (DKH)

Background:

MYC has been described for many years as a transcription factor that regulates a pleotropic number of genes to promote tumorigenic growth, explaining why deregulation of MYC is crucial for in the pathogenesis of a wide range of human tumors. Though, MYC not only promotes carcinogenesis by impacting cell autonomous growth, but in vivo predominantly enables tumors to evade the immune system by increasing stress resilience of the tumor cells and repressing activation of the innate immunity (Krenz et al, 2021; Gaballa et al, 2024, Roeschert et al, 2020).

1. We plan to better understand the immune evasion in MYC-deregulated pancreatic cancer by combining biochemistry with state-of-the-art methods like spatial transcriptomics, single cell sequencing and mass spectrometry.

2. One of the two major limitations of tumor therapy is the poor infiltration with functional lymphocytes and the devasting effect of chemotherapy on the hematopoiesis. We aim to restore the immune surveillance in tumors by genetically manipulating naive immune cells to shield them against the cytostatic effect of anti-cancer therapy and provide these immune cells as a transplant.

For more information about the project click here.

This project is funded in the Excellence Program of the German Cancer Aid.

Principles of the research:

1. Understanding MYC-driven immune evasion in pancreatic cancer

2. Restore immune response in PDAC using a hybrid therapy