Institute for Transfusion Medicine and Gene Therapy

Team Leader: Dr. Jamal Alzubi

CAR T cell therapies are a rapidly evolving platform that has been utilized successfully to cure endstage tumors of the haematopoietic and lymphoid system. The mode of action depends on the interaction of a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR), which is expressed on the surface of T cells, with tumor or tumor-associated antigens. Binding of the CAR to the antigen will lead to CAR T cell activation and ensuing elimination of the tumor. CAR T cells have shown remarkable success in the clinic, in particular in the context of B cell malignancies. We combine targeted genome editing with CAR T cell technology to generate 'enhanced CAR T cells' with improved activity and safety parameters. The perspective is to develop clinically applicable protocols to apply CAR T cells also in the context of solid tumors.