Zach Wijfjes

Current antitumor therapies suffer from adverse effects caused by off-target interactions. Utilizing the immune system to specifically target and eliminate tumor cells offers an attractive alternative. Dendritic cells (DCs) are crucial in tumor immunology to properly activate the immune system, however, the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Therefore, my research project focuses on the development of DC targeting antibodies and/or fab’ fragments, which can be easily modified to contain traceable, adjuvating and/or antigenic moieties. The final constructs enable not only study of the endosomal pathways involved in antigen presentation, but also might offer a potential antitumor therapy itself.