RTICC International Guest Seminar- Prof. Daniel Peeper

Prof. Daniel Peeper
Professor in Functional Oncogenomics, Netherlands Cancer Institute, NKI

“Towards Enhancing Immunotherapy - Insights from Functional Genomics”

Notwithstanding major advances made in therapeutic opportunities over the last decade, many patients fail to durably benefit from targeted and immunotherapies, most commonly because of early or late resistance. We employ function-based, genome-wide screens and other advanced technologies to develop concepts for rational combinatorial cancer treatment, targeting both cancer and immune cells more effectively.

On the one hand, we aim to increase our understanding of how cancer cells rewire their signaling networks particularly in the context of immunotherapy, to expose and exploit new pharmacologically tractable susceptibilities. On the other hand, we manipulate various cell types including T cells from the patient’s own immune system to revert their dysfunction and boost specific cytotoxicity towards tumor cells. We complement these studies with analyses of clinical samples in collaboration with our colleagues at NKI-AVL. In this way, we intend to sensitize tumor cells to T cell elimination while boosting T cell antitumor activity and develop concepts for new rational combinatorial therapies, aiming to achieve more durable clinical responses.