Summary

Our research focuses on the field of tumor immunology/biology with the following key aspects:
• Molecular mechanisms influencing tumor-immune interaction and escape including their therapeutic modulation
• Development of novel immunotherapeutic strategies, in particular novel antibody formats and peptide vaccination strategies to induce antitumor immunity of NK and T cells until the stage of clinical evaluation
With regard to the first, we analyze the expression and function of various immunoregulatory molecules, in particular the NKG2D/NKG2D ligand molecule system and various members of the TNF/TNFR family, in immune and tumor cells (including putative tumor stem cells) and the influence of other healthy cells like e.g. platelets. Besides their pathophysiological role we study the possibilities to modulate the respective molecules/cells to avoid tumor immune escape. This aims, among others, to improve the efficacy of presently available therapeutic strategies that rely on a sufficient anti-tumor immune response (e.g., allogenic stem cell transplantation). In addition, these analyses serve to identify potential target molecules for novel therapeutic compounds (see below). Moreover, we conduct comparative analyses to identify potential differences regarding the effects of immunoregulatory molecules in mice and humans to facilitate the development of valid model systems for testing immunotherapeutic strategies prior to the application in humans.
The above described work constitutes a central basis for the second key aspect of our scientific interest: the development of novel antibody formats and peptide vaccination strategies to reinforce antitumor immunity in cancer patients. Notably, particular effort is made to develop novel therapeutics  (i) until the stage of clinical application with (ii) substantial contribution of academia. The feasibility of this approach is demonstrated by two recently initiated clinical first in man studies evaluating a personalized peptide vaccine in combination with low dose lenalidomide as immunomodulator in patients with CLL (EUDRA-CT-No. 2015-005817-61) and an Fc-optimized FLT3 antibody  for elimination of MRD in patients with AML (clinicaltrials.gov, NCT02789254). Overall, our superordinate goal is to enable the rapid translation of results from basic science into clinical application (bench to bedside), which is central for our understanding of truly “Translational Immunology”.