Forscherdatenbank
Prof. Dr. Rienk Offringa
Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (DKFZ)
Im Neuenheimer Feld 280
69120 Heidelberg
Programm
Cancer Immunotherapy (CI)
Übersicht
The principal aim of this research program is to counter the devastating recurrence rate of primary resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) by means of applying immunotherapeutic strategies in the (neo)adjuvant setting. Our work over the past years has demonstrated that, in contrast to general expectations, pancreatic cancer is not a ‘cold’ tumor. Instead, we found clear evidence for the existence of an anti-tumor T-cell response that may be harnessed by immunotherapeutic strategies. Drugs/therapeutic approaches of primary interest in this respect are:
• Adoptive T-cell therapy using ex vivo expanded TILs or T cell receptor (TCR) gene therapy
• Agonist immunostimulatory antibodies (Abs), in particular Abs targeting CD40
• Small molecule cytostatic drugs, in particular MEK-inhibitors
The three main pillars of this program are (i) patient-based research, using the tumor biopsies and other patient samples obtained from the European Pancreas Center (EPC) of the Surgery Department of University Hospital Heidelberg, (ii) genetic mouse models that reflect the biology and immunology of PDA and (iii) strategic collaborations with Pharma/Biotech.
https://www.dkfz.de/en/gastrointestinale-tumoren/index.php
https://www.klinikum.uni-heidelberg.de/Sektion-Pankreaskarzinomforschung.135605.0.html
I am also head of the joint DKFZ-Bayer Immunotherapeutics Laboratory, where we focus on three aspects: the identification of novel targets for immune oncology drugs, the experimental validation of such targets and the systematic screening of drug candidates in physiologically relevant in vitro and in vivo assays.
https://www.dkfz.de/en/dkfz-bayer-allianz/Joint-Immunotherapy-Laboratory.html
DKTK Junior Group Leader for Cancer Systems Biology
Single-cell approaches have not only revealed a wide variety of cell states, characterized by cells exhibiting striking differences in their transcriptional profile, but have also illuminated the mechanisms underlying state transitions in health and disease. Cellular plasticity and adaptive state changes have recently emerged as a basis for therapeutic resistance in cancer, and a better understanding of how cell state transitions are regulated is critical to develop therapeutic approaches that can overcome therapy resistance.
Our research focuses on understanding the mechanisms driving non-genetic cellular heterogeneity and therapy resistance in malignancy. Using novel single-cell sequencing approaches, we seek to develop new experimental and computational strategies to define altered cell states in both, cancer and immune cells. Our aim is to leverage a data driven strategy combined with single cell genomics and systems biology to address the challenges posed by heterogeneity in cancer, and to develop new strategies to overcome it, with the aim of translating laboratory-based findings into the clinic.