Immunomonitoring & Cancer Immunology Research Group
Section for Clinical Bioinformatics
Internal Medicine I
University Medical Center Tübingen

Development of cancer usually occurs in later life through uncontrolled growth of mutated cells that are escaping immunosurveillance - a multi-facetted process of interactions between tissues and immune cells. Selective manipulation of some of these regulatory circuits led to the groundbreaking success of immune checkpoint blockade, first for the treatment of melanoma, and in the meantime for increasing numbers of other solid tumors. However, not all patients benefit from these therapies underlining the urgent need to better understand the mechanisms behind immune checkpoint blockade.

We are interested in the construction of models predicting the outcome of immune checkpoint blockade by combining immunomonitoring and clinical meta data in melanoma. Furthermore, we aim to contribute to a better understanding of the interplay between the immune system and the tumor through phenotypic and functional investigations of different peripheral and tumor-invasive T-cell subsets, as well as immune suppressors. 

Dynamics of melanoma-associated epitope-specific CD8+ T cells in the blood correlate with clinical outcome under PD-1 blockade
Gaißler A, Meldgaard TS, Heeke C, Babaei S, Tvingsholm SA, Bochem J, Spreuer J, Amaral T, Wagner NB, Klein R, Meier F, Garbe C, Eigentler TK, Pawelec G, Claassen M, Weide B, Reker Hadrup S, Wistuba-Hamprecht K Frontiers in Immunology. 2022 May

Integrin activation enables rapid detection of functional Vδ1+ and Vδ2+ γδ T cells
Herold N, Schöllhorn A, Feile A, Gaissler A, Mohrholz A, Pawelec G, Löffler MW, Dimitrov S, Gouttefangeas C, Wistuba-Hamprecht K European Journal of Immunology. 2022 Feb. doi: 10.1002/eji.202149682

Early disappearance of tumor antigen-reactive T cells from peripheral blood correlates with superior clinical outcomes in melanoma under anti-PD-1 therapy
Bochem J, Zelba H, Spreuer J, Amaral T, Gaissler A, Pop OT, Thiel K, Yurttas C, Soffel D, Forchhammer S, Sinnberg T, Niessner H, Meier F, Terheyden P, Konigsrainer A, Garbe C, Flatz L, Pawelec G, Eigentler TK, Loeffler MW, Weide B, Wistuba-Hamprecht K
Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer. 2021 Dec;9(12):e003439. doi: 10.1136/jitc-2021-003439.

Immunomonitoring of Human Breast Milk Cells During HCMV-Reactivation
Lazar K, Kussmann T, Pawelec G, Pöschel S, Goelz R, Hamprecht K, Wistuba-Hamprecht K
Frontiers in Immunology. 2021 Sep 9;12:723010. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.723010.

Genetic influence on the peripheral differentiation signature of Vδ2+ γδ and CD4+ αβ T Cells in adults
Beucke N, Wingerter S, Hähnel K, Larsen LA, Christensen K, Pawelec K, Wistuba-Hamprecht K
Cells. 2021 Feb 11;10(2):373. doi: 10.3390/cells10020373.

Immune signatures and survival of patients with metastatic melanoma, renal cancer and breast cancer
Wistuba-Hamprecht K, Gouttefangeas C, Weide B, Pawelec G
Frontiers in immunology. 2020 Jun 9;11:1152. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.01152.

Accurate determination of γδ T cells in multi-channel mass and flow cytometry
Beucke N, Wistuba-Hamprecht K 
Clinical Cytometry: part B. 2021 May;100(3):288-289. doi: 10.1002/cyto.b.21885.

Pitfalls in the characterization of circulating and tissue-resident human γδ T cells
Beucke N, Wesch D, Oberg H H, Peters C, Bochem J, Weide B, Garbe C, Pawelec G, Sebens S, Röcken C, Hashimoto H, Nocerino P, Löffler MW, Kordasti S, Kabelitz, D, Schilbach K, Wistuba-Hamprecht K
Journal of Leukocyte Biology. 2020 Jun;107(6):1097-1105. doi: 10.1002/JLB.5MA1219-296R.

Peripheral PD-1+CD56+ T-cell frequencies correlate with outcome in stage IV melanoma under PD-1 blockade
Bochem J, Zelba H, Amaral T, Spreuer J, Soffel D, Wagner NB, Uslu U, Terheyden P, Meier F, Garbe C, Pawelec G, Weide B, Wistuba-Hamprecht K,
PLoS One. 2019 Aug 16;14(8):e0221301. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0221301.