Collaborative Research Center 1066

Nanodimensional polymer therapeutics for tumor therapy

The SFB1066 is focused on the use of nanocarriers for the immunological treatment of melanoma as a model tumor. Nanocarriers are ideally suited to influence the immune system as they are about the same size as small viruses or cell debris. These objects are easily taken up by cells of the immune system, especially by the central “conductors” of the immune response, the dendritic cells (DCs). DCs can be influenced in orchestrating a response against the tumor by nanocarriers. Therefore, we deliver the antigens as well as adjuvants by nanocarriers. This triggers and advances the immune response against immunologically prone tumors like melanoma. Also, T cells as the actors of the final immune response are targeted by nanocarriers to influence them directly. The highly interdisciplinary work is done between the MPI for Polymer Research, the Chemistry Department of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz and the University Medicine Mainz. The collaborative research center is funded since 2013 by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) and is in its third funding period. We, therefore, focus more and more on the clinical translation of the nanocarriers into relevant in vivo models as well as translating them even for first-in-man studies. Here, we interact with industrial partners as spin-offs of the University Medicine like BioNTech.