iFIT Lunch & Learn Session with Dr. Ana Maia dos Santos Leite
"Immune monitoring: On the path to understanding immune responses to peptide-based therapeutic cancer vaccines"
On behalf of the iFIT spokespersons Lars Zender, Hans-Georg Rammensee and Bernd Pichler, it is our pleasure to inform you about and invite you to the next iFIT Lunch & Learn Session 2023 that will take place
on Wednesday, November 29th at 13:00 pm (CET)
at Big Lecture Hall in the ENT Clinic (HNO-Klinik / Augenklinik, großer Hörsaal, Elfriede-Aulhorn-Str. 5 72076 Tübingen)
Our guest speaker and iFIT member, Dr. Ana Maia dos Santos Leite (Institute of Immunology, University of Tübingen) will give a talk on
"Immune monitoring: On the path to understanding immune responses to peptide-based therapeutic cancer vaccines”.
T cells are main guardians of the immune system with an essential role in protection against pathogens and cancer. Cancer immunotherapies, which often aim at improving anti-tumour T cell responses, have revolutionised cancer treatment. Although spectacular clinical responses have been observed, it remains mostly unclear what determines the efficacy of such therapies with a large fraction of patients showing no or only transient benefit. Immune cell monitoring provides us with important insights into the patients’ immune reactivity over the course of treatment. Using sensitive and optimized in vitro assays, we can dissect the behaviour and phenotype of T cells in patients as well as their interaction with other cells of the immune system during immunotherapy. Our main goal is to use such information to understand what drives a successful response to therapy which would ultimately allow to stratify patients who would benefit or not from the treatment. We are currently taking part in peptide-based cancer vaccine studies. In this iFIT lunch talk, I will describe the different strategies employed in these studies, i.e. individualised vs off-the-shelf, as well as the different classes of peptides used and the importance of adjuvants. I will give an overview of our work and provide examples of results obtained in different studies we are involved. By tracking a multiplicity of aspects such as T cell responses, impact of adjuvants and immune cell interactions, we hope to provide understanding into the different factors that contribute to the success of such therapies.
As a special feature of this program, the iFIT will sponsor free lunch packages! (First come, first serve)
All members of the University Hospital and University of Tübingen are invited to participate!
We look forward to this Lunch & Learn session and to see you there!
