# Tumor Microenvironment

> **NIH NIH P30** · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · 2024 · $115,093

## Abstract

UWCCC Tumor Microenvironment Program Summary
 Co-Leaders: Pamela Kreeger and Josh Lang
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Cancer does not develop in isolation, evolving instead in a complex milieu of reactive stroma and immune cells
that constitute the tumor microenvironment. Dynamic interactions between cancer-associated fibroblasts
(CAFs), immune cells, and the extracellular matrix (ECM) have been shown to enhance tumor growth, initiate
the metastatic cascade, and promote treatment resistance in a variety of cancers. Therapeutic advances have
confirmed the incredible potential of targeting the tumor microenvironment but also identified unexpected
heterogeneity in response and diverse mechanisms of resistance. Therefore, it is the mission of the Tumor
Microenvironment (TM) Program to identify microenvironmental changes that occur during tumorigenesis and
analyze how the interactions between the tumor cell and microenvironmental components affect tumor formation,
growth, metastasis, and response to therapies. Through these research efforts, members of the TM program are
identifying new biomarkers and therapeutic approaches. To accomplish these goals, the TM program fosters
collaborations between its 33 members from 14 departments across campus, which include biologists,
bioengineers, and clinicians. The TM program is pursuing three Specific Aims, with an emphasis on UWCCC
priority targets breast and prostate cancer due to their high prevalence in our catchment:
Aim 1: Dissect the role of the extracellular matrix in tumor initiation and metastasis.
Aim 2: Analyze multi-cellular interactions within the tumor microenvironment during tumor initiation and
metastasis.
Aim 3: Interrogate the biological interactions in the tumor microenvironment that mediate treatment response
and resistance.
TM members were supported by $3.5 million direct costs in NCI funding and $5.1 million direct costs in additional
peer-reviewed cancer-related support in the last budget year, and were highly productive with 696 cancer-
relevant publications during the course of the last grant cycle. Of these publications, 17% were intra-
programmatic collaborations and 32% were inter-programmatic collaborations, increases from the previous
cycle. In the year 2021 alone, nearly half of publications were collaborative with other institutions.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10873037
- **Project number:** 5P30CA014520-50
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
- **Principal Investigator:** Pamela K Kreeger
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $115,093
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1997-04-25 → 2028-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10873037

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10873037, Tumor Microenvironment (5P30CA014520-50). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-08 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10873037. Licensed CC0.

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