Research

General information on the main research areas

The development of new methodological approaches to characterise the cellular immune response against individual pathogens allows the specific immune function to be analysed and quantified very sensitively on an individual basis (Fig. 1). These new methods are based on the quantification of antigen-specific T cells by means of intracellular cytokine staining (T cell interferon-gamma release assays) or by means of MHC multimers and are suitable for use in routine clinical diagnostics.

The focus of our research activities is on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the specific immune response against a number of clinically relevant persistent pathogens (e.g. CMV, VZV, HSV, adenovirus, M. tuberculosis, HIV, vaccine antigens, SARS-CoV-2) (Fig. 2). Immunocompromised patients after organ transplantation, stem cell transplantation or HIV infection are at particular risk of new infection or reactivation of pre-existing viral infections. The course of infection is determined both by the strength of the pathogen multiplication and by the specific T-cell response. The research projects deal with the T cellular changes that promote symptomatic disease in immunosuppressed patients. From the characterisation of infectious complications depending on the individual immunity situation, new monitoring procedures for the diagnosis of infectious complications, for the control of antiviral therapy and for the individualisation of drug immunosuppression after transplantation have already been developed and established in clinical routine.