The Sarhan group studies how treatment-resistant solid tumors escape immune control through spatial immune organization, sex-dependent macrophage programs and impaired innate immune memory. We focus on macrophage-centered immune niches in GI-tract cancers, including pancreatic cancer, and adaptive NK-cell memory for durable immunotherapy in ovarian cancer and other solid tumors. Our goal is to identify targetable immune states for precise, durable and sex-informed cancer immunotherapy.
Photo: Dhifaf SarhanWe investigate how biological sex shapes immune suppression, macrophage niches and therapy response in pancreatic and other solid cancers. Using patient cohorts, spatial profiling and functional models, we identify sex-informed immune mechanisms that can guide more precise immunotherapy.
Photo: N/AWe study adaptive natural killer cells as a platform for next-generation immunotherapy in solid tumors. Our work explores how NK-cell memory-like features, tumor recognition and immune crosstalk can be harnessed to improve anti-tumor responses.
Photo: N/AWe investigate tumor-promoting pathways driven by macrophages and cancer cells, including TRAP-mediated mechanisms, to identify therapeutic targets that can reshape the suppressive tumor microenvironment.
Photo: Getty Images,Getty Images/iStockphotoImmunotherapy for pancreatic cancer has limited effect and differs between men and women. KI researchers have now found a possible explanation for this sex difference.
Photo: Stefan ZimmermanDhifaf Sarhan, PhD, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, discusses the differences in the tumor microenvironment between female and male patients with pancreatic cancer at the 36th Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.
Immunotherapy is an effective form of therapy for different types of cancer, but for pancreatic cancer, its effect is limited and differs between men and women. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now found a possible explanation for this sex difference.
Photo: Getty ImagesResearchers have uncovered a unique ability of a special subtype of natural killer cells in the immune system, called adaptive NK cells, to remember ovarian tumours and effectively attack them. The discovery could pave the way for new, more powerful immunotherapies for difficult-to-treat cancers.
