Investigation of the role of erythropoietic progenitor cells in the development of an antimicrobial response in the course of neoplastic disease in relation to the severity of atherosclerotic lesions in the coronary arteries

Infectious diseases are infection-related complications are one of the leading causes of death in cancer patients. Moreover, microbial resistance to antibiotics as well as increasing evidence of antibiotics-related microbiome disturbance leading to anti-cancer treatment resistance have emerged in recent years as a significant problem from both the medical and the socio-economic perspectives. Therefore, identification and validation of novel targets to reduce the risk of mostly fatal bacterial infections in cancer patients is of far-reaching significance. The aim of this project is to i) investigate the role of immunomodulatory erythrocyte progenitor cells (EPCs) in the progression of plasma cell myeloma (PCM) in mice, ii) to determine the role of EPCs in susceptibility of PCM-bearing mice to bacterial infections, and to iii) validate whether targeting of EPCs immunomodulatory mechanisms improves bacterial infection control in PCM-bearing mice.