Metabolic reprogramming of tumor infiltrating T-cells in gastric cancer

PD Dr. med. Adrian Seifert

Gastric cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer death. Despite improvements in treatment, the prognosis is still poor, with a 5-year overall survival rate of 20%. Immunotherapies have shown efficacy in clinical trials for gastric cancer, but the response rate is only 10-20%. Due to this low response rate, it is important to identify new immunological target structures and to develop combination therapies in order to improve the treatment and thus the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer.

Current Research

The aim of the CAMINO research project is to identify new mechanisms of immune evasion and tumor-specific metabolic alterations in gastric cancer. The results may provide a rationale for the use of metabolic factors as biomarkers and suggest new possibilities for combination therapy to enhance the anti-tumor efficacy of immune checkpoint blockers in gastric cancer treatment. Metabolic reprogramming of T cells is a promising therapeutic strategy. The clinical application of the findings from this project could have an immediate impact on patients with gastric cancer, when translated into a clinical trial.

In this project models such as genetically modified mouse models, tumor organoids and human tissue are analyzed using flow cytometry (FACS), mass cytometry (CyTOF), multiplex immunofluorescence, single cell sequencing (scRNA-seq) and NMR spectroscopy.

Research Aims

phenotypic and functional characterisation of tumour-infiltrating immune cells in gastric cancer
investigation of the specific metabolome of tumour and immune cells in murine and human gastric cancer
modulation of the metabolome and immunological signaling pathways in murine and human gastric cancer