Cancer and the immune system

Cancer escapes the immune system using several strategies including the production of signals that suppress the ability of the immune system to respond to danger. We explore: (1) Which suppressive signals are produced by cancer and how these affect the immune cells. (2) Which key genes expressed by immune cells play a role in the response to the suppressive signals. We focus on the effect of suppressive signals on antigen-presenting cells mainly dendritic cells. We aim to improve dendritic cells function under pathological conditions and find new biological mechanisms that govern dendritic cells biology.