Background

The interdisciplinary priority research program ‚Tumor and inflammation’ of the Philipps University Marburg and the Justus-Liebig University of Giessen went into session in 2008, and was funded by the LOEWE Excellence program – an initiative of the German state government of Hesse.

Systemic and local inflammatory processes are a hallmark of many tumors and have a direct impact on tumor development. The LOEWE Excellence program was initiated to advance our under­standing, how tumor-, inflammatory immune- and stromal cells communicate within the tumor en­viron­ment and influence each other. These mutual cellular interactions result in intracellular signaling cascades either by cell-cell contact or by soluble mediators and thereby have a direct impact on the final tumor out­come. A deeper knowledge of the underlying mechanisms will also allow for the deve­lop­ment of intervention strategies to redirect tumor growth, pro­gression and metastasis.

Beside the scientific objectives of the LOEWE program a pronounced goal is also to strengthen cooperations between the internationally renowned local research groups from both basic science and clinical depart­ments. This close cross-disciplinary collaboration will further boost the scientific reputa­tion of the Marburg university and the participating groups in the field of tumor biology.