Linda Hammerich
Core Facility Session
Thursday, September, 30th, 2021, 2:30pm – 4:00pm
Immune monitoring of cancer patients in times of full spectrum cytometry– getting the most out of a 3-laser machine
Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Abstract
Cancer immunotherapies, such as checkpoint inhibitors (CPI), have had tremendous success in the past decades, but response rates are still low in many types of cancer. A crucial factor for the success of CPI is a pre-existing immune response that can be reinvigorated or additional therapies that can induce a tumor-specific immune response. Therefore, immune monitoring of cancer patients becomes increasingly important to identify promising combination therapies. Full spectrum cytometry is emerging as a powerful tool for immune monitoring, with 5-laser instruments enabling characterization of up to 40 parameters in one sample. However, even if only machines with fewer lasers are available due to budget restrictions, development of novel fluorophore families enables increasing panel sizes. Here, we will discuss the use of a 3-laser Cytek® Aurora cytometer for immune monitoring of patients with neuroendocrine tumors (NET) treated with peptide radio receptor therapy (PRRT). PRRT as a radiation-based treatment is considered immunogenic and therefore might trigger activation of the immune system, but the exact influence of PRRT on the immune system remains poorly understood. In-depth characterization of the immunological environment in patients with NET and the alterations induced by PRRT might help to identify promising combinations of PRRT with immunotherapy and pave the way to design future clinical trials. We will present recent results from a prospective study on NET-PRRT immuno-monitoring with a special emphasis on panel development for full spectrum cytometry.
Biosketch
Linda holds a Diploma in Molecular Biomedicine from the University of Bonn (Bonn, Germany) and received her PhD in Biology from RWTH Aachen University (Aachen, Germany) in 2013. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship on cancer immunotherapy at the Icahn School of Medicine in New York, USA, she returned to Germany and joined the Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology at Charité Universitaetsmedizin Berlin as a group leader in 2019. Her scientific interests include developing and improving immunotherapies for gastrointestinal tumors and immune monitoring of cancer patients using spectral flow cytometry and mass cytometry. Linda is also managing a Cytek Aurora cytometer, which was the first spectral cytometer available in the Berlin-Brandenburg area, and actively involved in panel development and application support for the local scientific community.
Contact
Twitter: @Flt3Linda
Publications
Systemic clinical tumor regressions and potentiation of PD1 blockade with in situ vaccination