Human dendritic cells as targets for immunization
19.04.2017 - Project grant from the Austrian Science Fund goes to Prof. Romani and co-applicant Assoc. Prof. Stoitzner from the Medical University of Innsbruck.
19.04.2017 -
The Austrian Science Fund (FWF) granted Prof. Nikolaus Romani and co-applicant Assoc. Prof. Patrizia Stoitzner with 400,000 euros for their four-years-project on dendritic cells in the skin. The dendritic cells initiate the immune response of the body as they inform the T cells about the specificities of pathogens or cancer cells. This information is transmitted in form of antigens. Despite of many progresses of immunotherapies, not every patient is able to activate the adequate immune response against cancer. This project will investigate how dendritic cells can be targeted with antibody-antigen fusion proteins. By loading dendritic cells with tumor antigens, T cells should then develop the appropriate defense against tumor. This therapeutic approach could also be combined with novel immunotherapies such as checkpoint blockade therapy, to improve clinical response rates in cancer patients.
