Cancer
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Experimentally validated public neoepitopes as targets for cancer immunotherapies

Institution: Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Applicant: Martin Klatt
Funding line:
First and Second Applications
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Targeting cancer cells while sparing healthy cells is very challenging. One strategy to solve this problem is through genetic alterations, known as mutations, which only occur in tumors but not in healthy tissues. Interestingly, some but not all of these mutations are presented to the patient’s immune system on the cell surface. Then parts of the immune system are able to recognize these presented mutations, called neoepitopes, as an abnormal structure and thus will kill the tumor cell. In this project we will investigate for over 100 different neoepitopes if they can be presented to the immune system and thus are potential drug targets. This knowledge will allow us in future studies to design cancer therapies against neoepitopes which are effective but will cause less side effects.