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Gliomas are extremely malignant and fast growing tumors. Not only do they secrete molecules to secure their blood supply by generating new blood vessels, they are also able to secrete messenger molecules to protect themselves against attacks by the immune system.

The immune system not only recognizes and attacks exogenous organisms like bacteria and viruses but also prevents the body from risks arising from aberrations of its own cells like tumor growth. Research from recent years has shown that brain tumors such as glioblastoma, an especially aggressive tumor, can manipulate immune cells such as macrophages to help foster its own growth instead of destroying it.

A new transregional research collaboration to explore new approaches to cancer treatment with the aid of the immune system was now established in Berlin and Munich. The project “Principles and Applications of Adoptive T Cell Therapy” is a long-term multicenter research undertaking involving the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Free University Berlin und Humboldt University), the MDC Berlin-Buch, the GSF – National Research Center for Environment and Health in Munich as well as the Technical University and the Ludwig Maximilian University (both Munich) and the German Rheuma Research Center, Berlin. The German Research Foundation (DFG) is allocating six million euros to this Transregional Collaborative Research Center project (Transregio or SFB/TR for short), initially for the next four years.