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Prof. Dr. med. Dr. sc. nat. Heinz Läubli

Department of Clinical Research
Profiles & Affiliations

Projects & Collaborations

7 found
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T-OP / Training Network for Optimizing Adoptive T cell Therapy of Cancer

Research Project  | 2 Project Members

Adoptive T cell therapy, which employs the patient's own cells as a weapon, is considered a breakthrough in the treatment of cancer. However, the production of such immunotherapy products lacks harmonisation with clinical studies. The EU-funded T-OP project aims to bridge this gap by bringing together interdisciplinary teams of scientists working in cell therapy, immunology, protein engineering and bioinformatics alongside large and medium-sized enterprises. The scientific work will focus on cytokines and their role in the therapeutic outcome of adoptive cell therapy, aiming to determine the optimal combination. The project's results will lead to the development of safer and improved immunotherapeutics.

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Modulation of sialoglycans for cancer immunotherapy

Research Project  | 2 Project Members

The introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) into routine cancer therapy has changed the prognosis of cancer patients. Current ICI are blocking antibodies that target immune checkpoints including PD-1 and CTLA-4. ICI are the proof of principle that a dysfunctional immune system can be re-activated against an established tumor. However, only a minority of patients responds to the currently available ICI. New strategies to target additional pathways to reverse cancer-associated immune suppression are therefore needed.Others and my group within the Cancer Immunology Laboratory in Basel have defined a new adaptive, immunosuppressive pathway, the sialoglycan-Siglec-9 pathway that involves sialic-acid binding immunoglobulin-like lectin (Siglec) receptor 9 and upregulation of sialic acid-containing Siglec ligands (sialoglycans) in the tumor microenvironment. We have also recently described and upregulation of the inhibitory Siglec-9 receptor on tumor-infiltrating T cells.The general objective of this project is to delineate the role of Siglec receptors and Siglec ligands in adaptive anti-tumor immunity and to generate tools to target Siglec receptors and their ligands for cancer immunotherapy. First, we will elucidate Siglec signalling in tumor-infiltrating T cells. We will generate a defined Jurkat cell line overexpressing different Siglec receptor variants to elucidate their downstream signaling. To further understand signaling and pathways influenced by inhibitory Siglec receptors on tumor-infiltrating T cells, we will use these defined cell lines to perform an unbiased proteomic analysis. These findings will help to understand how Siglec-9 inhibits T cell function in cancer. Second, we will study the role of Siglecs on dendritic cells in anti-tumor immunity and also autoimmunity with new mouse models. We will perform multicolor flow cytometric analysis on non-small cell lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and epithelial ovarian cancer samples as well as tumor-draining lymph nodes to characterize Siglec expression on human dendritic cells in cancer patients. In addition, we will use genetic mouse models to study the function of Siglecs on dendritic cells in cancer and autoimmunity. Finally, in collaboration with Carolyn Bertozzi at Stanford, agents that target Siglec receptors and their ligands in cancer will be developed. Already established preclinical models will be used for combination immunotherapy regimens together with established ICI and mechanisms of anti-tumor immune activation will be studied in vivo.With the proposed research project, we will improve our understanding for the role of the Siglec-sialoglycan immunosuppressive pathway in cancer patients. We have produced a set of tools for in vitro and in vivo studies of the sialoglycan-Siglec pathway that will significantly move potential compounds further in the preclinical and hopefully into future clinical development. Our findings will be highly relevant to translate the basic scientific findings into clinically active drugs that will help cancer patients, synergize with ICI and improve current cancer immunotherapies.

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Implementation of liquid biopsies during routine clinical care in patients with advanced malignancies (LIQPLAT)

Research Project  | 10 Project Members

This is a trial using routinely collected health care data from an ongoing registry (AO_2023- 00091) in cancer patients with advanced solid malignancies receiving first line systemic anti- cancer treatment for advanced disease.

This trial will assess the feasibility and implementation of routine measurement of ctDNA and its association with clinical outcomes, including quality of life and survival. All patients will receive routine diagnostics, treatment and follow-up. All patients with a new cancer diagnosis will be assessed for eligibility based on the routinely collected information available in the registry. We will then randomly decide which eligible patients are invited to participate in the trial. If patients accept the invitation and intend to get a measurement of ctDNA, they have to provide written informed consent.

The feasibility target sample size is 150 patients who accepted the invitation. We have chosen to randomly invite patients to participate, because: first, current capacities are not sufficient to offer regular ctDNA measurement to all cancer patients; second, we aim to recruit an unbiased and representative sample of patients; third, we aim to conduct comparative analyses with high internal and external validity so that our results are directly and reliably transferable to a large group of future cancer patients.