Phenotypic Therapy and Immune Escape in Cancer

The cure of cancer patients is still hampered by the resistance of tumor cells against drugs and the immune system. These phenomena point to a new understanding of cancer as a highly plastic system, in which cell populations switch into each other depending on the current therapeutic, microenvironmental, and immunological context. The novel approach of PhenoTImE is to collaboratively unravel the molecular circuitries that control this dynamic switching towards resistant phenotypes and the reciprocal interaction with the immune system.