Neuro–Immune–Stromal Crosstalk

After neoadjuvant therapy, roughly 60 % of patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer become operable. We ask how pre-treatment changes the tumour’s immune profile and what part nerves play in this network.

We compare the immune profile of neoadjuvantly treated and primarily resected tumours — in mouse models and in human specimens.

Neoadjuvant therapy measurably changes the tumour’s immune landscape; the composition of immune cells differs from primarily operated tumours.

We want to determine the time windows in which the altered immune profile makes additional therapies possible.