Theme 3: Solid tumors


# Sub themes
3.1.1 Germ Cell Tumors
3.1.2 Prostate cancer
3.1.3 Bladder cancer
3.1.4 Carcinomas of the digestive tract
3.1.5 Endocrine Tumors
3.1.6 Molecular mechanisms of androgen receptor function and dysfunction
3.2 Forensic molecular biology
3.3 Improving accuracy and therapeutic ratio in radiation oncology
3.4 Hyperthermia: a treatment for cancer
3.5 Photodynamic therapy
3.6 Neuro-oncology and Pain
3.7 Innovative tumor model development/ tumor vasculature/ tumor targeting/ locoregional control
3.8 Clinical and experimental aspects of urological tumors
3.9 Gynaecological oncology; basics, epidemiology and clinical aspects
3.10 Translational cancer genomics and proteomics
3.11 Translational Pharmacology
3.12 Clinical and experimental immuno (-gene) therapy
3.13 Molecular and cellular basis of genome instability in cancer

General descripton of theme 3:  Solid tumors
Solid cancers can be regarded as tissues whose normal hierarchy and turnover is perturbed due to genetic and epigenetic events, either in normal stem cells or in their more differentiated progeny. Through stepwise selection of cells with crucial defects that confer survival and growth advantage to them, this process ultimately produces invasive and metastatic cancer cells that are capable of survival, growth, and induction of angiogenesis outside their normal niche. Metastases originating from these cells are the ultimate threat to the patient. The main goal of main theme 3 is to understand human solid cancers at the molecular, mechanistic level and to apply this knowledge to improve methods for prevention, screening, diagnosis, prognosis and therapy, including studies on the potentials of stem cells in these conditions.
In all of the studied diseases the research strategy is primarily based on investigation of patient cohorts and tumour samples and body fluids of the included patients.