Max-Eder Research Group for Molecular Immunetherapy

Lab Members

  • Dr. med. Fabian Müller, principle investigator
  • Anna Ammon, PhD student
  • Franziska Gsottberger, PhD student
  • Rebekka George, MD student
  • Lilly Handreke, MD student
  • Helena Lucius, MD student
  • Christina Meier, MD student
  • Lisa Mellenthin, MTA
  • Richard Pelzl, MD student
  • Srdjan Petkovic, MTA
  • Kerstin Wendland, PhD, Post-Doc

 

Research Focus

Recombinant immunotoxins (rIT) are fusion proteins of an antibody and Pseudomonas exotoxin A (PE, Figure 1).  The antibody directs the rIT selectively towards tumor cells while healthy tissue remains unaffected.  After binding, rITs are internalized, traverses various intracellular compartments, and ADP-ribosylates EF2 in the cytosol. The covalent modification arrests protein synthesis driving the targeted cells towards apoptosis (Figure 2).

Our research group uses syngeneic animal models to study effects of rIT-induced cell death on the host immune system.  Goal of our research is to understand the molecular and cellular mechanism behind the specific anti-cancer immune activation in syngeneic animal model systems and to combine rIT with immune modulatory drugs. 

In addition, our group develops novel targets for conventional rITs, develops patented, novel toxins, and integrates rITs in established drug combinations to further improve outcome of cancer (immune-) therapies.

 

Thematic Focus

  • innovativ approaches for antibody based cancer therapy
  • lymphoma induced immun-modulation and impact on CAR T cells
  • immunology of the tumor-micromilieu

Collaborations

internal:

  • Prof. Dr. Jäck (Head, Dept. for Molecular Immunology)
  • Prof. Dr. Metzler (Children´s Hospital, Head, Dept. of Pediatric Oncology)
  • Prof. Dr. Nitschke (Biology, Head, Division of Genetics)
  • Prof. Dr. Marianne Pavel (Internal Medicine 1, Head, Dept. of Endocrinology)
  • Prof. Dr. Christian Pilarsky (Operative Surgery, Head, Laboratory of Functional Genomics)
  • Prof. Dr. Stürzl (Dept. of experimental Surgery, Head)

external:

  • Dr. Vidya Chandramohan, Associate Prof. in Neursosurgery, Duke University Medical Center
  • Dr. Ira Pastan, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
  • Dr. Alan S. Wayne, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, CA, USA
  • Medimmune, LLC,  Gaithersburg, MD, USA

 

Research Support

  • Deutsche Krebshilfe e.V.
  • German Research Foundation (DFG)
  • Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Research Erlangen (IZKF)
  • Forschungsstiftung Medizin Erlangen
  • MedImmune LLC

 

Selected Publications

George R, Gsottberger F, Ammon A, Wendland K, Mellenthin L, Mackensen A, Müller F. Triton X-114 and Amine-Based Wash Strategy Reduces Lipopolysaccharides to FDA Limit and Achieves Purer, More Potent Recombinant Immunotoxin. Bioconjug Chem. 2021 Apr 21;32(4):713-720. doi: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.1c00013. Epub 2021 Apr 1. PubMed PMID: 33793193.

Müller F, Cunningham T, Stookey S, Tai CH, Burkett S, Jailwala P, Stetler Stevenson M, Cam MC, Wayne AS, Pastan I. 5-Azacytidine prevents relapse and produces long-term complete remissions in leukemia xenografts treated with Moxetumomab pasudotox. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 Feb 20;115(8):E1867-E1875. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1714512115. Epub 2018 Feb 5. PubMed PMID: 29432154.

Müller F, Stookey S, Cunningham T, Pastan I. Paclitaxel synergizes with exposure time adjusted CD22-targeting immunotoxins against B-cell malignancies. Oncotarget. 2017 May 9;8(19):30644-30655. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.16141. PubMed PMID: 28423727; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5458156.  

Müller F, Cunningham T, Liu XF, Wayne AS, Pastan I. Wide Variability in the Time Required for Immunotoxins to Kill B Lineage Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Cells: Implications for Trial Design. Clin Cancer Res. 2016 Oct 1;22(19):4913-4922. Epub 2016 Apr 25. PubMed PMID: 27114443; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5050065.

Liu X, Müller F, Wayne AS, Pastan I. Protein Kinase Inhibitor H89 Enhances the Activity of Pseudomonas Exotoxin A-Based Immunotoxins. Mol Cancer Ther. 2016 May;15(5):1053-62. doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-15-0828. Epub 2016 Mar 3. PubMed PMID: 26939705; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4873377.

Hollevoet K, Mason-Osann E, Müller F, Pastan I. Methylation-associated partial down-regulation of mesothelin causes resistance to anti-mesothelin immunotoxins in a pancreatic cancer cell line. PLoS One. 2015 Mar 24;10(3):e0122462. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0122462. eCollection 2015. PubMed PMID: 25803818; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4372481.