Marleen Kok is Professor of Medical Oncology, with a particular focus on breast cancer and immunotherapy. In addition, she works as medical oncologist and researcher at the Netherlands Cancer Institute. She received a prestigious VIDI grant from the NWO Talent Programme, as well as an Innovator Award from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

More information about Marleen Kok

Marleen Kok is Professor of Medical Oncology, with a particular focus on breast cancer and immunotherapy. In addition, she works as medical oncologist and researcher at the Netherlands Cancer Institute. She received a prestigious VIDI grant from the NWO Talent Programme, as well as an Innovator Award from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

Interactions between the immune system and breast cancer

Her research focuses on the interactions between the immune system and breast cancer with the ultimate goal to improve breast cancer treatment and immunotherapy in particular.

Patients with breast tumors that harbor immune cells usually have a better prognosis. Consequently, our studies evaluate whether these patients can be treated without chemotherapy or whether they are good candidates for immunotherapy. Better understanding of the interactions between immune cells and cancers cells could allow more personalized treatment to improve outcomes and reduce side effects. We now know that the amount of immune cells is important, but the exact type, activation status and spatial localization of these cells in relation to breast cancer cells are probably also crucial. Our ambition is to work towards incorporating information on these tumor-associated immune cells into breast cancer treatment guidelines.

Academic career

During her medical studies at Utrecht University, Marleen Kok already conducted research at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) on the role of oncogenes in neuroblastoma. Her translational PhD research on biomarkers in breast cancer was carried out at the NKI (2010, supervisors Sabine Linn and Laura van 't Veer, Endocrine resistance in breast cancer: gene expression profiling and modifications of the estrogen receptor). After completing her medical specialization as an internist-oncologist (Amsterdam UMC and NKI-AVL), she received a KWF fellowship that allowed her to work as a postdoc in immunology at the renowned Johns Hopkins University, and later with Ton Schumacher at the NKI (technologies to understand T-cell recognition in cancer). She subsequently continued to work as a principal investigator at the NKI and as a breast cancer oncologist, with specific expertise in triple-negative breast cancer and immunotherapy.