July, 26th, 2022 - 14:00 CET

Assessing the global immunocompetence of cancer patients - challenges and possible approaches

with

Priv.-Doz. Dr. med. Johannes Döscher

ENT Department

University Hostpital Augsburg

Online Seminar via Zoom

Link and password upon request!

Please write an e-mail to: iem-seminar.umweltmedizin@tum.de

Dr. Döscher and his team aim to establish a comprehensive immunocompetence model with the help of which the capacity of tumor patients to react to unknown antigens can be quantified and, in particular, deficits in this system caused by the disease itself and the therapy can be recognized. So far, this has only been achieved inadequately, as analyses of cell populations in the circulation of patients do not appear to be sufficient, because a functional component is missing and the immune cells that can react specifically to tumor antigens are usually very rare, making a more in-depth analysis almost impossible. The analysis of intratumoral immune cells, on the other hand, is complicated by the limited material available from a biopsy or tumor resection. In addition, it is usually difficult and ethically hardly justifiable to perform multiple biopsies on patients in the course of their disease, for example before and after therapy. The work carried out so far on the influence of tumor therapies on the immune system was done either with blood samples only or with small biopsies. Here, the above-mentioned limitations became apparent. One cell population that has recently gained importance for the maintenance of the immune response are so-called tissue resident memory cells (TRM). Since these cells also seem to be responsible for triggering contact allergy, they will serve as a model for the ability of a patient to develop this cell population.
To this end, peripheral blood monocytes from patients with head and neck cancer and melanoma will be brought into contact with a chemical that triggers a contact allergy and the immune reaction will then be measured using various methods. This experimental set-up will then allow the analysis of various influences on the immune system, from the disease itself to the influence of immune checkpoint inhibitors. If the in vitro data is promising, Dr. Döscher and his team are planning to apply the chemical to the skin of cancer patients to understand the local and global immune reactions even better.