Reciprocal effects of intrinsic tumour immune resistance and the tumour microenvironment

The immune system is responsible for detecting and eliminating cancer cells. To kill their targets, cytotoxic lymphocytes use a specialised cell-to-cell interface, termed the immunological synapse (IS). Recently, our group established that cancer cells can escape from cytotoxic lymphocyte-mediated killing by polarizing their actin cytoskeleton to the IS and thereby altering IS morphology and activity. Actin-driven immune escape will be investigated in established 3D brain models including the immune compartment. Factors of the TE, such as hypoxia and ROS, will be monitored and their influence on actin dynamics in cancer cells and immune evasion will be determined