Skip to content
Technical University of Munich

Phosphoproteomics as the Key to Precision Oncology

Institut |

The Institute of Pathology is part of the joint project "Phosphoproteomics for routine cancer diagnostics (PhosDX)" funded by the German Consortium for Translational Cancer Research (DKTK). Its goal is to establish the necessary scientific and regulatory foundations to launch a clinical trial testing a new method: phosphoproteomics. This method is intended to help physicians make better treatment decisions for patients with rare or advanced cancers.

Currently, most treatment decisions are based solely on the analysis of tumor DNA. While this can provide valuable insights, it does not always offer a complete picture. Many cancer-related issues arise from defective proteins and the biological processes they regulate – not solely from changes in the genome. However, existing tests do not yet directly detect these defective protein activities.
Phosphoproteomics is a new technology that can measure these activities. It examines how proteins in cancer cells are modified (phosphorylated) or in what quantities they occur. We call this approach PhosDx, as it can reveal important characteristics of a tumor, such as how it functions and which therapies might be most promising.
The project aims to accredit, optimize, and validate the PhosDx workflow for clinical use. It is intended to lay the groundwork for determining whether PhosDx can be used as a diagnostic tool in precision oncology in the future. Within two to four years, PhosDx is expected to be established as a new diagnostic method that opens up additional or more targeted treatment options for patients with rare or advanced cancers. The implementation of the joint PhosDx project is being driven by an interdisciplinary team from clinical proteomics and bioinformatics (Prof. Küster/TUM), precision oncology and clinical trials (Prof. Fröhling/NCT Heidelberg, Prof. Glimm/University Hospital Dresden, Prof. Illert/University Medical Center Göttingen), and clinical pathology and quality assurance (Prof. Mogler/TUM).

◄ Back to: Homepage
To top