Healthcare industry

A particular type of dendritic cell is responsible for the tissue damage that occurs in non-alcoholic steatohepatits (NASH) in mice and humans. The dendritic cells cause aggressive, proinflammatory behavior in T cells, as now discovered by researchers from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in collaboration with colleagues from Israeli research institutes. Blocking these dendritic cells alleviates symptoms in mice.

Article - 14/03/2011

Mast cells as the central and pivotal points of allergy processes

Mast cells of the human immune system play a key role in allergic and inflammatory reactions. Activated mast cells release a number of substances that mediate an immune response. The process by which such mediators are released is still largely unknown. Scientists from the University of Hohenheim are focusing on finding out how allergic reactions are induced by mast cells.

Article - 09/08/2010

Elara Pharmaceuticals

The Heidelberg-based biotech company ELARA Pharmaceuticals is focused on the development of treatments of tumours through the inhibition of the hypoxia signalling pathway (HIF) and through the induction of apoptosis. The company’s lead candidate targets multiple myeloma, a cancer that arises in the plasma cells of the immune system.

Article - 10/06/2021

New study: vaccine therapy for treating patients with chronic leukaemia

Personalised peptide vaccination is expected to improve the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. A research team from Tübingen has started a Phase I clinical trial with CLL patients who will undergo ibrutinib treatment. Other leukaemia sufferers as well as cancer patients in general are also expected to benefit in the long term.

Tumor vaccines can help the body fight cancer. Mutations in the tumor genome often lead to protein changes that are typical of cancer. A vaccine can alert the patients' immune system to these mutated proteins. For the first time, physicians and cancer researchers from Heidelberg and Mannheim have now carried out a clinical trial to test a mutation-specific vaccine against malignant brain tumors.

Article - 19/07/2016

Licence to kill – the enormous potential of CAR T cells

With 6 million euros of EU funding, the CARAT project aims to optimise a technology called CAR T that is used to equip T cells with antibody fragments and specifically direct them to destroy cancer cells. The CARAT consortium comprises a multinational team of experts from the Institute for Cell- and Gene Therapy at the Freiburg University Medical Center led by Prof. Dr. Toni Cathomen and seven partner institutions. Cathomen’s team is developing…

Researchers from Heidelberg have discovered that certain oxygen compounds are produced in greater quantities in the body due to cancer or inflammation and that this leads to the alteration of a protein that controls the flexibility and adaptability of certain immune cells.

Article - 21/07/2016

New anticancer drugs – hop compounds have the potential to treat cancer

Secondary hop compounds appear to have a positive effect on the immune system and therefore have the potential to be used for the treatment and prevention of cancer. However, the bioavailability of hop compounds in the human body is relatively poor. Researchers from Hohenheim and Tübingen are therefore looking for a way to increase their absorption rate.

Article - 24/11/2015

Researchers from Tübingen set out to thwart viral survival strategies

Around two thirds of people carry the JC polyomavirus, a normally harmless virus that, in immunocompromised patients, can evade the body’s defences and cause a fatal brain infection. An international research network has now found a way to activate the immune system and attack the virus.

Scientists of the University of Heidelberg and the German Cancer Research Centre have clarified the functional principles of an important receptor for bacterial infections: immune cells recognise bacterial and viral pathogens with a receptor known as toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9), which mediates biochemical reaction chains in order to fend off intruders. This discovery made by the Heidelberg researchers paves the way to develop new anti-infective…

Article - 27/09/2010

Harald Langer combines cardiology with immunology

The Volkswagen Foundation has taken the decision to finance a “Lichtenberg Professorship” at the University of Tübingen for a period of up to eight years. The new chair, cardiologist Dr. Harald Langer, uses molecular and cell biology methods to investigate how the immune system affects the development of arteriosclerosis in order to come up with innovative therapeutic strategies.

Tumours develop sophisticated strategies to escape the immune defence. One of these strategies is the modification of the cells sugar coat. Specific immune cell receptors bind to these sugars thereby preventing the tumour cell from being discovered by the immune system. Medics from the University of Tübingen are investigating the mechanisms involved and are looking for therapeutic targets.

Article - 11/05/2015

How Lactobacillus bacteria fight Candida albicans infections

Fungal infections of skin and mucous membranes are relatively common. Around 75 percent of the human population lives with Candida albicans, a fungus that has no harmful effects in people with an intact immune system that can fight off systemic infections. However, in people with immune systems that have been weakened by antibiotics or radiotherapy for example C. albicans infections can lead to sepsis which may even be life-threatening. Prof. Dr.…

Article - 20/03/2011

Non-pathogenic bacteria for the treatment and prevention of allergies

Researchers and physicians from the Department of Dermatology at Tübingen University Hospital are investigating huge numbers of non-pathogenic bacteria with the aim of shedding light on their potential for the prevention and treatment of allergies. The mode of action of highly promising candidates is being investigated in further detail.

Press release - 01/08/2012

With broccoli against infections

The microbiologist and immunologist Prof. Dr. Andreas Diefenbach, Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, University of Freiburg Medical Centre, has been awarded a European Research Council "Starting Grant" for his project "NutrImmune". The ERC Starting Grant is one of Europe’s most prestigious grants for young investigators.

The German Cancer Research Centre and the Spanish company Chimera Pharma SL have signed an exclusive licensing and cooperation agreement. The two partners will develop a therapeutic vaccine against cervical cancer.

Press release - 23/08/2010

Mystery of nickel allergies solved

Researchers from the University of Gießen and the Mannheim Medical Faculty along with colleagues from Freiburg, Münster and Munich, have made a fundamental contribution to deciphering the biological mechanisms behind nickel allergies. The results, which might be of great importance for developing innovative preventive and therapeutic approaches, have now been published in the current edition of “Nature Immunology”.

Press release - 31/01/2011

Researchers from Stuttgart decipher the function of antibiotics that are naturally produced by the human body

Researchers at the Robert Bosch Hospital RBK and the Dr. Margarete Fischer-Bosch Institute for Clinical Pharmacology IKP in Stuttgart have now deciphered a new mechanism of action of the human immune system that protects against intestinal bacteria and pathogenic yeasts. The internationally renowned scientific journal Nature presents their findings.

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…

Press release - 22/06/2009

Many animal experiments are superfluous

Researchers at the Esslingen University of Applied Sciences are working on an alternative to the large number of animal experiments that are still being carried out. Researchers under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Bettina Weiß have received a grant from the Landesstiftung Baden-Württemberg foundation for work on this particular research area.

Article - 10/11/2009

Fungi as human pathogens

The majority of fungal infections are unpleasant rather than dangerous. But they can be life-threatening for individuals with weakened immune systems. The number of deaths caused by systemic mycoses is currently experiencing a big increase. The pathogenicity of opportunistic fungi such as Candida albicans might potentially be related to their unusual reproduction abilities.

Article - 23/11/2015

Double-secured immune protection against plant attackers

Plants have sophisticated defence mechanisms to help them fight off all kinds of pathogens. A group of researchers led by Dr. Gabriel Schaaf at the University of Tübingen’s ZMBP has now discovered that plants’ immune response is more similar to the innate immune system of humans and animals than previously thought.

The Comprehensive Infectious Diseases Centre at the University of Ulm was recently presented to the public. The centre is responsible for coordinating the cooperation between specialists in the diagnosis and therapy of complex infectious diseases.

Cancer immunotherapy - 06/09/2018

The immunogenicity of tumours and the development of new cancer medicines

Microsatellite-unstable cancers are characterised by a large number of mutations within short repetitive DNA sequence regions, and can form novel peptides that the human immune system recognises as neoantigens. These cancers represent a starting point for the development of vaccines to prevent them appearing at an early stage of development. Microsatellite instability is particularly frequent in colon and cervical cancers.

Researchers use epigenetic factors to investigate the role of stress in the development of tumor diseases. Experts believe that stress plays a major role in the development of tumors. One occupational group, for example, that experiences extreme stress over a short period of time is astronauts.