Dissecting the communication between immune and tumor cells with quantitative proteomics (P16)

• Subject Area: Immunology
• Term: from 2018 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 360372040

While a large array of paracrine factors is hypothesized to determine the local cross-talk between cancer cells and the immune system, only a few of these factors have been identified and characterized because current technologies are insufficiently developed. To overcome these obstacles, Meissner (P16) develops sophisticated quantitative mass spectrometry-based approaches including cell type-specific labeling with amino acid precursors. These technologies will allow the first unbiased and system-wide characterization of cancer – immune cell cross-talk ex vivo and in co-culture in vitro. Using transgenic mouse models, these technologies will be adapted and utilized for in vivo analyses and applied to study the paracrine information exchange between macrophages and cancer cells. Together, this project will generate new hypotheses about how immune-derived factors control melanoma and intestinal cancer cell proliferation and phenotype.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1335: Aberrant Immune Signals in Cancer
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität München (TUM)
• Project Head: Professor Dr. Felix Meissner