Immunoimaging Team
Michael Breckwoldt, MD PhD
Imaging immune cell dynamics by magnetic resonance (MRI) is a major clinical challenge. This is especially relevant with the advent of novel cancer immunotherapies. The group aims to visualize innate and adoptive immune responses in the tumor microenvironment (TME) during immunotherapeutic intervention using various glioma and solid tumor models. We employ a variety of imaging methods such as high field MRI at 9.4 Tesla (in cooperation with the Neuroradiology Department, University Hospital Heidelberg) and develop novel MR approaches, e.g. CEST, MR elastography and USPIO imaging.
To define cellular correlates of MR signals, we employ develop optical methods to spatially unravel the cellular and subcellular dynamics of the TME (e.g. light sheet microscopy of cleared specimen, 2 photon microscopy). We also use various iron oxide nanoparticle formulations and other innovative contrast agents for cell tracking of immune cell subsets in immunotherapeutic paradigms (active/ passive vaccination, checkpoint inhibition, adoptive cell transfer models). Our long-term goal is to define imaging "immune signatures" of response, resistance and pseudoprogression for treatment monitoring and translate such signatures into clinical practice.
For more information about the AG Immuno-Imaging click here.
© dkfz.de
Team members
- Michael Breckwoldt MD PhD PD - Team leader
- Manuel Fischer - MRI Technician
- Berin Boztepe, M.Sc - PhD student
- Kianush Karimian, MD - Postdoctoral scientist and resident neuroradiology
- Ina Weidenfeld, PhD - PostDoc
- Katharina Schlegel, PhD - PostDoc
Publications
- Hahn A, Bode J, Alexander A, Karimian-Jazi K, Schregel K, Schwarz D, Sommerkamp AC, Krüwel T, Abdollahi A, Wick W, Platten M, Bendszus M, Tews B, Kurz FT, Breckwoldt MO. Large-scale characterization of the microvascular geometry in development and disease by tissue clearing and quantitative ultramicroscopy. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2021
- Karimian-Jazi K, Munch P, Alexander A, Fischer M, Piechutta M, Karreman MA, Solecki GM , Berghoff AS, Pfleiderer K, Friedrich M, Deumelandt K, Kurz F T., Wick W, Heiland S, Bendszus M, Winkler F, Platten M, and Breckwoldt MO. Monitoring innate immune cell dynamics in the glioma microenvironment by magnetic resonance imaging and multiphoton microscopy (MR-MPM). Theranostics. 2020
- Breckwoldt MO, Bode J, Sahm F, Krüwel T, Solecki G, Hahn A, Wirthschaft P, Berghoff AS, Haas M, Venkataramani V, von Deimling A, Wick W, Herold-Mende C, Heiland S, Platten M, Bendszus M, Kurz FT, Winkler F, Tews B. Correlated MRI and Ultramicroscopy (MR-UM) of Brain Tumors Reveals Vast Heterogeneity of Tumor Infiltration and Neoangiogenesis in Preclinical Models and Human Disease. Front Neurosci. 2019
- M Costa da Silva, MO Breckwoldt, F Vinchi, MP Correia, A Stojanovic, CM Thielmann, M Meister, T Muley, A Warth, M Platten, MW Hentze, A Cerwenka, and MU Muckenthaler. Iron Induces Anti-tumor Activity in Tumor-Associated Macrophages. Front Immunol. 2017
- K Kirschbaum, JK Sonner, M Zeller, K Deumelandt, J Bode, R Sharma, T Krüwel, M Fischer, A Hoffmann, M Costa da Silva, MU Muckenthaler, W Wick, B Tews, JW Chen, S Heiland, M Bendszus, M Platten and MO Breckwoldt. In vivo nanoparticle imaging of innate immune cells can serve as a marker of disease severity in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis. PNAS. 2016
- MO Breckwoldt, J Bode, FT Kurz, A Hoffmann, K Ochs, M Ott, K Deumelandt, T Krüwel, D Schwarz, M Fischer, X Helluy, D Milford, K Kirschbaum, GM Solecki, S Chiblak, A Abdollahi, F Winkler, W Wick, M Platten, S Heiland, M Bendszus and B Tews. Correlated MR imaging and ultramicroscopy (MR-UM) is a tool kit to assess the dynamics of glioma angiogenesis. eLIFE. 2015
- MO Breckwoldt, FMJ Pfister, PM Bradley, P Marinković, PR Williams, MS Brill, et al., Multiparametric optical analysis of mitochondrial redox signals during neuronal physiology and pathology in vivo. Nature Medicine. 2014
Funding
Emmy Noether Programm: „Translational multimodality imaging of glioma hallmarks to assess the dynamics of the immune cell landscape and tumor cell invasion during targeted therapy".
