Übersicht

Tumor Microenvironment

In recent years the contribution of chronic inflammation to the formation of tumors became evident. Furthermore it could be confirmed, that basically all tumors show an inflammatory micromillieu as an essential feature, including those for which a direct causal relationship to chronic inflammation has not been proven yet.
This inflammatory milieu is caused by the tumor microenvironment, comprised not only by tumor cells but also epithelial cells, fibroblasts and innate as well as adaptive immune cells. These cells communicate in an autocrine and paracrine manner, which keeps the cytokine milieu in a finely tuned balance either supporting immunosuppression and tumor growth or anti-tumor immunity.

Our group aims to study the molecular mechanisms in tumor cells and the tumor microenvironment in the development and progression of gastrointestinal cancer. Using conditional knockout technology in inflammatory and non-inflammatory autochthonous cancer models we functionally examine key signal transduction pathways in various cell types of the tumor microenvironment in vivo. Next to this we`re using a novel cell culture system of 3D-organoids to study these mechanisms and the influence of certain stimuli or therapeutics in vitro. This will allow for a better understanding of the connections between inflammatory stimuli and definite cell types and will help to discover new therapeutic strategies.