Nguyen, Phuong-Hien - CAP 19

The definition of cancer hallmarks has significantly expanded in the last decades and cancer is no longer considered a disease of only malignant cells, but a highly complex tissue comprising tumor cells and their tumor microenvironment (TME). “My research is based on the finding that non-receptor tyrosine kinases are functionally essential for the creation of a proneoplastic, microenvironmental niche. The distinct, cell-type specific patterns of substrate activation induced by kinases may lead to a differential activation of transcription factors and, as a consequence, to a cell type-specific modulation of cellular functions”, Nguyen comments and adds ”Because many kinase inhibitors are readily available, understanding these kinases’ functions in the TME will be useful to design improved anti-cancer therapies, particularly to target the immune- and metastatic niches”.