Thomas Blankenstein
Charité Campus Benjamin Franklin
Hindenburgdamm 30
12200 Berlin
Since 2000
Director of the Institute of Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Since 1993
Research group leader at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin
Most of the current experimental cancer models do not reflect the pathophysiology of real-life cancer. Cancer usually occurs sporadically and is clonal in origin. Between tumor initiation and progression clinically unapparent pre-malignant cells may persist for years or decades in humans. More recently, mouse models of sporadic cancer have been developed. The mouse germ-line can be engineered with high precision so that defined genes can be switched on and off in the adult organism, ideally in a locally and timely controlled fashion. However, analysis of the immune response against sporadic tumors requires the knowledge of a tumor antigen.