At Tübingen University Hospital, a preclinical study led by Dr. Clemens Hinterleitner and Prof. Dr. Lars Zender, Medical Director of Medical Oncology and Pneumology, led to extremely promising results. The research group was able to develop a new methodology that makes it possible to better predict the likelihood of success of immunotherapies for lung cancer.

Doctors and scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and from Heidelberg University's Medical Faculty Mannheim have successfully tested a neoantigen-specific transgenic immune cell therapy for malignant brain tumors for the first time using an experimental model in mice.

Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) have developed antibodies that have two antigen-binding sites and can couple cancer cells with effector cells of the immune system. In laboratory tests, these bridging antibodies, together with an enhancer antibody, were able to specifically mobilize the body's own immune defenses and destroy breast cancer cells.

Brain tumor cells with a certain common mutation reprogram invading immune cells. This leads to the paralysis of the body's immune defense against the tumor in the brain. Researchers from Heidelberg, Mannheim, and Freiburg discovered this mechanism and at the same time identified a way of reactivating the paralyzed immune system to fight the tumor.

Signal mechanisms in inflammatory processes - 18/05/2021

Newly discovered substances activate the inflammasome in macrophages

Low-grade chronic inflammation caused by components of the innate immune system may increase the risk of developing a variety of diseases in the long term. In their search for the signalling mechanisms underlying these inflammatory processes, Prof. Dr. Olaf Groß' research group at the Freiburg University Medical Centre discovered new active substances with immunostimulatory properties that may open up additional possibilities in cancer…

The working group around Dr. Philipp Rathert at the Institute for Biochemistry and Technical Biochemistry investigates the regulation of epigenetic networks of certain cancers and ways of treating them. The working group published its new findings in April.

Immunotherapy using checkpoint inhibitors is effective in around a quarter of patients with liver cancer. However, to date, physicians have been unable to predict which patients would benefit from this type of treatment and which would not. Researchers from the German Cancer Research Center have now discovered that liver cancer caused by chronic inflammatory fatty liver disease does not respond to this treatment. On the contrary: in an…

New method for analysing blood samples - 26/11/2020

Personalised therapy monitoring for malignant melanomas

Immunotherapy has greatly improved the survival chances of patients with malignant melanoma. A study has now begun at the Department of Dermatology at the University Hospital of Tübingen to develop a way to monitor the course of treatment as effectively as possible. It involves personalised monitoring using liquid biopsies in addition to conventional PET/CT examinations. This analysis procedure of blood samples could enable closer monitoring of…

Inside the fight against COVID-19 - 28/10/2020

A new immunotherapeutic agent for treating severe COVID-19 cases

Apogenix, a Heidelberg-based biopharmaceutical company specialising in innovative immunotherapeutics, has initiated a Phase II clinical trial with asunercept, the company’s lead drug candidate for treating severe cases of COVID-19. The fusion protein blocks the CD95-ligand-mediated death of epithelial cells in the lung and thus prevents damage to the organ.

Intestinal peptide heals lung - 14/10/2020

Inhalation of intestinal hormone VIP helps against immunotherapy-induced pneumonia

If cancer patients develop pneumonitis, an inflammation of the lungs resulting from immunotherapy, their symptoms and restrictions in lung function can often only be alleviated with cortisone. Researchers led by Prof. Dr. Joachim Müller-Quernheim and Dr. Björn Frye from the Freiburg University Medical Centre have been able to cure a patient's pneumonitis by inhalation of a long-known neuropeptide.

Innovative Therapies - 20/08/2020

Labor Dr. Merk is fully committed to viral therapies

Labor Dr. Merk & Kollegen is reorienting its business towards viral therapeutics. With this change of strategy, the company, which has decades of expertise in virology, wants to position itself in a timely fashion in the growing new market for advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMP). In gene and virotherapies (oncolytic viruses), tumour vaccines and CAR-T cell therapies, viruses are essential as vectors, killers of tumour cells or…

Review article (new edition) - 08/07/2020

Immunology – at the forefront of medical progress

Immunology is constantly changing with the emergence of new technologies and areas of application, and has branched out in many directions. Immunological approaches are central to everything – be it the development of innovative active substances and vaccinations against cancer, the search for new therapies against neurodegenerative diseases or autoimmune diseases, or combatting well-known infectious diseases or new virus epidemics.

Affimed GmbH - 01/07/2020

"Innate cell engager" fighting against cancer

In the fight against tumour cells, d Affimed GmbH from Heidelberg relies entirely on the weapons of the innate immune system. Affimed has developed special innate cell engagers, which are bispecific antibodies that recognise tumour cells and bring them together with natural killer cells and macrophages of the innate immune system, which then kill the tumour cells. Clinical trials using the AFM13 molecule are ongoing.

Vaccine development - 02/06/2020

CureVac as a pioneer of mRNA technology - what is behind the novel COVID-19 vaccine?

All eyes are on vaccines against the coronavirus. The Tübingen-based company CureVac is doing pioneering work in this field, and intends to initiate clinical testing of its lead vaccine candidate in June. At the same time, Curevac is manufacturing the material for this vaccine candidate. But that’s not all: the novel mRNA technology also has the potential to revolutionise the treatment of cancer and metabolic diseases. What makes the method so…

Translational oncology - 26/05/2020

Translation: driver of cancer medicine

The fight against cancer is a pressing issue. Although technological advances in the treatment, prevention and early detection of cancer have improved over the past few decades, the number of people affected is increasing. Cancer medicine now wants to counteract this by joining forces with other players involved in the field.

Article - 22/10/2019

Using CAR T cells for treating cancer

After successes in the treatment of advanced blood cancers, CAR T-cell immunotherapy has become a major beacon of hope in oncology. The first therapies have received regulatory approval. Despite their success, these immunotherapies can have serious side effects. The company AVA Lifescience develops antibodies with high tumour specificity to use as the basis for effective precision-guided CAR T-cell therapies that are better tolerated by patients.

New edition - 24/05/2019

Tumour metastasis

Cancer is usually not curable when metastases have formed in the body. Metastases are often resistant to drugs that have successfully eliminated the primary tumour. The basic features of the complex process of metastasis are now known, but many details still remain elusive. Intensive research activities are focusing on new therapeutic concepts aimed at developing effective anti-metastatic therapies.

Dossier - 13/04/2015

Boosting the immune system can improve cancer prevention and treatment

The activation of the body’s immune system to fight cancer is not only a promising therapeutic concept, but is already used in medical practice. The first immunotherapies have been approved and many more are either in the experimental stages or already undergoing clinical testing. Vaccines to prevent certain types of cancer are already being used successfully around the world.