Podcast with Prof. Dr. Juliane Walz

💉 Vaccination Against Cancer - Training the Immune System to Fight Tumors

🎙️ In the latest episode of the German science podcast Bild der Wissenschaft, Prof. Dr. med. Juliane S. Walz, co-spokesperson of the iFIT - Cluster of Excellence and physician-scientist at Universitätsklinikum Tübingen, shares fascinating insights into the development of therapeutic cancer vaccines - a promising approach in modern cancer immunotherapy.
🔬 Unlike conventional vaccines, which prevent infectious diseases, therapeutic cancer vaccines aim to treat existing cancers. They use specific protein fragments, known as tumor peptides, to train the immune system to recognize cancer cells and activate T cells to attack them.
Building on pioneering research by Prof. Dr. Hans-Georg Rammensee in Tübingen, Juliane Walz and her team are developing both personalized and broadly applicable peptide-based cancer vaccines. Their research combines advanced technologies for identifying tumor-specific targets with the clinical development of innovative immunotherapies.
💉 From laboratory research to clinical trials: Several cancer vaccine studies are already underway, exploring their potential in different cancer types. One particularly exciting example is ImmProCure, a randomized Phase II clinical trial in prostate cancer that investigates the combination of a multi-peptide vaccine with a bispecific antibody developed by iFIT member Prof. Dr. Helmut Salih and his team at Universitätsklinikum Tübingen. The antibody is designed to bring immune cells into close contact with cancer cells, potentially enhancing the immune response triggered by vaccination.
🏥 In the podcast, Juliane Walz discusses the scientific principles behind cancer vaccines, current clinical developments, and the opportunities and challenges on the path toward more effective and personalized cancer treatments.
🤝 The episode highlights how interdisciplinary collaboration and the close connection between basic research and clinical application at the University Hospital Tübingen are helping advance the next generation of cancer immunotherapies.

🎧 Listen to the podcast (in German): Link