Project 459818

The immune system normally keeps our body healthy by fighting off viruses and bacteria that cause illnesses. Immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that increases the ability of the immune system to destroy tumor cells and has transformed the treatment of several types of cancer, including skin cancer. However, some patients do not benefit from this treatment strategy. Ovarian cancer is one of the cancer types that has shown poor response rates to immunotherapy. This suggests that the ability of the immune system to destroy ovarian tumors may be held back by barriers that are characteristic of this particular tumor type. Dr. Fatima Mechta-Grigoriou's research group at the Institut Curie in Paris (France) and our group have recently identified two different types of regulatory cells that inhibit immune cells in ovarian cancer. Dr. Fabian Theis's research group at the Institute of Computational Biology in Neuherberg (Germany), has the expertise to evaluate genomic data using a variety of computer algorithms to provide a deeper understanding of potential interactions and molecular signatures related to responses in patients. Through this collaborative network, we will characterize different regulatory populations in ovarian cancer and study whether these cells interact with each other at multiple levels, to block an effective immune response against ovarian cancer. In addition, Dr. Fabian Theis's group will develop an artificial intelligence-based diagnostic tool with the goal to identify patients who may benefit from a certain type of immunotherapy.