The role of human microglia for glioma progression
Main supervisor: Prof. Dr. Helmut Kettenmann, MDC
Second supervisor: Prof. Dr. Christoph Harms, Charité
Student: Amanda Luisa de Andrade Costa, International Graduate Program Medical Neurosciences, Charité
Project summary: Malignant gliomas, the most common subtype of primary brain tumors, are aggressive, highly invasive, and neurologically destructive, with poor prognosis for the patients and very limited treatment options. Glioma associated microglia and infiltrating macrophages (GAMs) are the largest population of tumor infiltrating cells, both in intact and in necrotic areas, and there is a direct correlation between their density and glioma grade and invasiveness. The presence of microglia is known to facilitate glioma growth, invasion and the establishment of an immunosuppressive milieu. The current treatment mainly targets the tumor and neglects the stromal cells and thus presents unsatisfying results. This highlights the need for deeper insights into the role of resident microglia versus infiltrating monocytes/macrophages in glioma.