Florian Greten receives prestigious ERC funding
The research team led by Prof. Dr. Greten has been awarded an ERC Proof of Concept Grant for 2026 by the European Research Council (ERC). The project, titled 'INFLAME-TME: Inflaming the microenvironment of colorectal cancer to enable immunotherapy', aims to further develop a novel therapeutic approach that could enhance the efficacy of immunotherapies for the most prevalent form of colorectal cancer.
The ERC is Europe's leading funding organization for excellent frontier research. Its Proof of Concept Grants are exclusively available to researchers who have previously been awarded an ERC grant. With funding of up to €150,000, these grants support the translation of promising research findings into innovative applications, helping to bridge the gap between breakthrough science and real-world impact.
New perspectives for immunotherapy in colorectal cancer
Over the past decade, immunotherapy has transformed the treatment of many types of cancer. However, it remains largely ineffective for the most common form of colorectal cancer. Approximately 85–90% of colorectal cancer cases are classified as microsatellite-stable colorectal cancer (MSS CRC), leaving many patients with limited treatment options.
A promising strategy to overcome this challenge emerged from the ERC Advanced Grant PLASTICAN, where Prof. Greten's team identified a new mechanism that may both weaken tumor cells and activate the immune system. Through INFLAME-TME, researchers will now investigate whether this discovery can be translated into a novel immunotherapy approach.
'Our goal is to make these tumors visible to the immune system,' explains Prof. Dr. Florian Greten, Principal Investigator of the project and Director of the Georg-Speyer-Haus. 'The most common form of colorectal cancer largely escapes immune recognition, which is why current immunotherapies are often ineffective. We are developing a novel RNA-based approach designed to place tumor cells under targeted stress, thereby triggering an immune response. If successful, this strategy could pave the way for new treatment options not only for colorectal cancer, but also for other cancers that currently do not respond to immunotherapy.'
The next steps towards clinical application
Over the next 18 months, the ERC Proof of Concept Grant will enable the team to validate the scientific basis of this approach further and prepare it for future clinical development. As well as experimental validation, the project will address intellectual property protection, regulatory requirements and potential commercialization pathways, with the aim of facilitating translation into clinical practice.
This ERC funding recognizes the strong innovation potential of the underlying research and is a vital step in translating a scientific discovery into potential future treatment for patients.