Prof. Dr. Christof von Kalle

Kinase with inhibitor

Basic research in cancer biology has begun to unravel many of the cellular mechanisms underlying oncogenesis. It is the main goal of Translational Oncology to accelerate the translation of this basic understanding into clinical therapies. Our department is committed to developing and supporting investigator initiated trials and other forms of clinical research to convert the knowledge gained in the basic research performed in the German Cancer Research Center and the University of Heidelberg Hospital into safe and effective clinical applications. Promising new developments made in the pharmaceutical industry will also be tested in partnership with pharmaceutical companies. We have established a NCT patient and clinical trial center to give the organizational and operative support needed to safely develop and implement clinical trials and to meet all applicable regulations and operating standards.

The department also devotes a large portion of its resources to application-oriented basic research to study the processes which lead to cancer and to develop new therapy approaches. This research focuses primarily on characterizing the function and genetic modification of stem cells, the role they play in the development of cancer and their potential role in its treatment. The structure of the stem cell compartment is of particular interest, especially the function of the various classes of blood stem cells after transplantation and the role of bone marrow stem cells as a model system for gaining an understanding of malignant stem cell structure in cancerous disease. Another important aspect of the department’s research work is developing and testing innovative strategies for gene therapy of cancer and severe inherited diseases. Intensive research efforts focus on the feasibility, safety and mutagenic potential of gene vectors. High throughput technologies make it possible to identify gene mutations in individual patient cells. We have shown that the vectors used for gene therapy tend to integrate into regions of the genome of target cells affecting stem cell survival and proliferation. Gene regions have been identified in which vector integration leads to genotoxicity as a side effect of treatment. In a variety of cooperative projects the department contributes to gene and cancer therapy studies carried out by several of the world’s leading research groups.