Exploiting innate nucleic acid receptor pathways to enhance immunotherapy in SCLC (C07*)

• Subject Area: Cell Biology ; Hematology, Oncology ; Immunology
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 413326622

J. Brägelmann and his team will address a new opportunity in SCLC, direct activation of the immune system for mounting a therapeutically relevant immune response. They have found that activation of innate nucleic acid receptors (NARs) causes activation and cytokine secretion. Moving forward, they will now characterize in-depth the signaling responses elicited by NAR activation in SCLC. They will then seek to determine, whether NAR activation results in meaningful cellular activation and cytotoxicity elicited by T and NK cells in co-culture experiments. In a complementary approach, the team will employ a newly generated RPM-Cas9 mouse model to assess immune recognition and response in this aggressive immunocompetent mouse model and to determine the therapeutic potential of combined NAR activation and immunotherapy.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1399: Mechanisms of drug sensitivity and resistance in small cell lung cancer
• Applicant Institution: Universität zu Köln
• Project Head: Privatdozent Dr. Johannes Brägelmann, since 7/2023