The Cell Therapy Team
Lukas Bunse, MD

The Cell Therapy Team within the Clinical Cooperation Unit Neuroimmunology and Brain Tumor Immunology develops preclinical immune receptor transgenic therapies for patients with brain tumors and central nervous system (CNS) autoimmune disorders. Together with partners at University Faculty Mannheim and National Center of Tumor Diseases Heidelberg, The Cell Therapy Team seeks for early clinical translation of developed therapeutic strategies in a bench-to-bedside-to-bench approach. Adoptive T cell therapy using genetically engineered T cells expressing a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) against CD19 has achieved remarkable regressions in lymphoma patients. Translation of this cellular concept to brain tumors has proven to be difficult, a major hurdle being the paucity of suitable cell surface antigens, neurotoxicity, the central nervous system (CNS) immune privilege per se, and brain tumor specific immune escape mechanisms. In close collaboration with the Immunogenomics Team and the Research Group DNA Vectors, The Cell Therapy Team not only applies novel episomal vectors for immune receptor cell therapy targeting patient-individual glioma-associated and -specific antigens, but also performs basic science using cutting-edge technologies and transgenic humanized experimental systems to understand and target brain tumor specific immune resistance mechanisms and develops rationales for combinatorial immunotherapies.
Team members
- Lukas Bunse, MD PhD - Team Leader
- Yu-Chan Chih - PhD student
- Mirco Friedrich - MD (Internal Medicine V, University Hospital Heidelberg)
- Markus Hahn - MD student
- Niklas Kehl - MD student
- Michael Kilian, M.Sc. - PhD student
- Christopher Krämer - MD student
- Julius Michel - MD student
- Hao Qi, M.Sc. - Master student
- Khwab Sanghvi, M.Sc. - PhD student
- Stefanie Jung - technician
Selected publications
- Bunse L, Green EW, Platten M. High-throughput discovery of cancer-targeting TCRs. Methods Enzymol. 2019
- Green EW, Bunse L, Bozza M, Sanghvi K, Platten M. TCR validation toward gene therapy for cancer. Methods Enzymol. 2019
- Hilf N*, Kuttruff-Coqui S*, Frenzel K, Bukur V, Stevanovic S, Gouttefangeas C, Platten M, Tabatabai G, Dutoit V, van der Burg SH, thor Straten P, Martínez-Ricarte F, Ponsati B, Okada H, Lassen U, Admon A, Ottensmeier CH, Ulges A, Kreiter S, von Deimling A, Skardelly M, Migliorini D, Kroep JR, Idorn M, Rodon J, Piro J, Poulsen HS, Shraibman B, McCann K, Mendrzyk R, Löwer M, Stieglbauer M, Britten C, Capper D, Welters MJP, Sahuquillo J, Kiesel K, Derhovanessian E, Rusch E, Bunse L, Song C, Heesch S, Wagner C, Kemmer-Brueck A, Ludwig J, Castle JC, Schoor O, Tadmor A, Green E, Fritsche J, Meyer M, Pawlowski N, Dorner S, Hoffgaard F, Rössler B, Maurer D, Weinschenk T, Reinhardt S, Huber C, Rammensee HG, Singh H, Sahin U, Dietrich PY, Wick W. Actively personalized vaccination in newly diagnosed glioblastoma. Nature. 2019
- Bunse L*, Pusch S*, Bunse T*, Sahm F, Sanghvi K, Friedrich M, Alansary D, Sonner JK, Green E, Deumelandt K, Kilian M, Neftel C, Uhlig S, Kessler T, von Landenberg A, Berghoff AS, Marsh K, Steadman M, Zhu D, Nicolay B, Wiestler B, Breckwoldt MO, Al-Ali R, Karcher-Bausch S, Bozza M, Oezen I, Kramer M, Meyer J, Habel A, Poschet G, Weller M, Preusser M, Nadji-Ohl M, Thon N, Burger M, Harter P, Ratliff M, Harbottle R, Benner A, Schrimpf D, Okun J, Herold-Mende CM, Turcan S, Kaulfuss S, Hess-Stumpp H, Bieback K, Cahill DP, Plate KH, Hänggi D, Dorsch M, Suva M, Niemeyer BA, von Deimling A, Wick W, Platten M. Suppression of antitumor T cell immunity by the oncometabolite R-2-hydroxyglutarate. Nat Med. 2018
- Friedrich M, Bunse L, Wick W, Platten M. Perspectives of immunotherapy in isocitrate dehydrogenase-mutant gliomas. Curr Opin Oncol. 2018
- Platten M, Bunse L, Riehl D, Bunse T, Ochs K, Wick W. Vaccine Strategies in Gliomas. Curr Treat Options Neurol. 2018
- Ochs K, Ott M, Bunse T, Sahm F, Bunse L, Deumelandt K, Sonner JK, Keil M, von Deimling A, Wick W, Platten M. K27M-mutant Histone-3 as novel target for glioma immunotherapy. OncoImmunology. 2017
- Mildenberger I, Bunse L, Ochs K, Platten M. The promises of immunotherapy in gliomas. Curr Opin Neurol. 2017
- Ochs K, Bunse L, Mildenberger I, Wick W, Platten M. Immuntherapien bei Gliomen. Der Onkologe. 2017
- Platten M, Bunse L, Wick, W, Bunse T. Concepts in glioma immunotherapy. Cancer Immunol Immun. 2016
- Bunse L*, Schumacher T*, Sahm F*, Pusch S, Oezen I, Wiestler B, Gonzalez M, Osswald M, Capper D, von Deimling A, Wick W, Platten M. In situ proximity ligation assay evaluates IDH1R132H presentation in gliomas. J Clin Invest. 2015
- Schumacher T*, Bunse L*, Pusch S, Sahm F, Wiestler B, Quandt J, Menn O, Osswald M, Oezen I, Ott M, Keil M, Balß J, Grabowska AK, Vogler I, Diekmann J, Trautwein N, Eichmüller SB, Okun J, Stevanović S, Riemer AB, Sahin U, Friese MA, Beckhove P, von Deimling A, Wick W, Platten M. A vaccine targeting mutant IDH1 induces antitumor immunity. Nature. 2014
- Schumacher T, Bunse L, Wick W, Platten M. Mutant IDH1: an immunotherapeutic target in tumors. OncoImmunology. 2014