Joost Frenkel

Joost Frenkel connected trained immunity to autoinflammatory conditions and cancer susceptibility, demonstrating that mevalonate pathway mutations causing constitutive trained immunity activation lead to chronic inflammation that can promote or suppress tumorigenesis depending on the tissue context and immune cell composition. His work on sterile inflammatory triggers of trained immunity identified endogenous danger signals released by dying tumor cells that can train adjacent monocytes and macrophages. He investigates the fine line between beneficial anti-tumor trained immunity and pathological inflammation that fuels cancer progression.