TUM Faszination Forschung: At the Klinikum rechts der Isar, researchers hope to harness the lethal power of viruses to combat malignant tumors. Jennifer Altomonte and her team are engineering viruses to optimize their therapeutic potential in cancer cells. Part of this therapy concept involves mobilizing specific
immune cells. This makes use of a phenomenon that goes hand in hand with viral infection, namely that when pathogens multiply in tumor tissue and destroy it, the dying cells send out warning signals. At the same time, the virus infection modulates certain mechanisms that cancer cells normally use to evade detection and clearance by the immune system.
