Pallasch, Christian P | Heidenreich, Axel - assoc. RG 15

Laboratory for microenvironment and therapy of malignant lymphomas
The so-called tumor microenvironment represents the surrounding tissue of cancer cells and offers malignant tumor cells a complex environment with diverse functional relationships and interactions. In addition to the malignant tumor cells, infiltrating cells of the immune system are of great importance here. In particular, macrophages can play a role in promoting tumor growth. Through synergistic combination therapy in the tumor microenvironment, however, it is possible to reprogram macrophages into tumor-ablative effector cells (Pallasch et al. CELL 2014). Our research group focuses on the mechanisms of therapy resistance development caused by the tumor microenvironment. The mechanisms of the release of inflammatory messengers and the function of macrophages in tumor tissue after chemotherapy play a central role here. These are being further developed to develop new synergistic therapy combinations in cell culture and mouse models to enable their application in clinical trials. 

For information about Prof. Pallasch's and Prof. Heidenreich's research and work, please visit the following pages: Research Pallsch or Urology University Hospital Cologne