The catabolism of the essential amino acid tryptophan is a key metabolic pathway restricting innate and adaptive immune responses in the tumor microenvironment. Based on the identification of a metabolic signalling loop constitutively active in CNS tumors and other types of cancer involving the activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor by kynurenine generated through tryptophan dioxygenase in the previous funding period this project seeks to elucidate the impact of tryptophan catabolism on the tumor infiltrating myeloid compartment using newly generated mouse lines and human tumor tissue and its dependency on tumor hypoxia as an important feature of the tumor immune microenvironment.
DFG Programme
Collaborative Research Centres
