Immunotherapies are becoming increasingly important in pediatric oncology. All types of immunotherapies harness the body’s own immune system to specifically recognize and fight cancer cells. Compared to conventional therapies, immunotherapies can therefore be more effective and targeted in some cases; however, they are also associated with specific side effects and are not suitable for all types of tumors.
At KiTZ, research is focused in particular on making these relatively new therapies accessible to children and adolescents. The “Translational Immunotherapy” research group is doing pioneering work in the development of CAR/TCR-T cell therapies for childhood cancer by deciphering and reprogramming the tumor microenvironment to enable lasting immune responses against solid pediatric tumors. The junior research group “Pediatric Immuno-Oncology,” in turn, focuses, among other things, on the development of CAR-T cells using high-throughput CRISPR screens.
