Challenge #85
Finding individual therapies for cancer patients.
Patients’ cancer cases differ, and even within a tumor the cancer cells differ from each other. We analyze the biological characteristics of individual tumors in order to adapt the therapy as precisely as possible to the individual disease and achieve the best outcome possible in each case.
Participating centers
Today, about 250 different types of cancer are known. These diseases differ considerably among patients: not every lung cancer is the same, and not every breast cancer is the same. How aggressive a tumor is and how effectively a treatment responds depends very much on individual factors, such as whether certain genes are switched on in the afflicted area, or how a person's immune system reacts to a tumor.
We promote a form of medical treatment that takes this complexity into account and aims to help the cancer patient as individually as possible. To this end, we are developing therapies that start at the cellular level, using the knowledge we gain from so-called biomarkers. These biological abnormalities of a tumor indicate which disease is present and provide information about which therapy promises to be effective in a person.
At the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), we are therefore identifying new biomarkers. With their help, we can develop innovative active substances and immunotherapies, allowing us to advanced personalized medicine and implement successful therapies.
(Photo: DKFZ/Tobias Schwerdt)
Participating centers
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