| Within this theme there is a longstanding research effort in murine models for human diseases and nonhuman primate models for stem cell biology and transplantation, which is concerned with the manipulation of immune modulation and the development of gene transfer for therapeutic purposes. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (SCT) is currently an important therapeutic modality for many malignant hematological disorders, and it s use for the treatment of metastatic solid tumors is under investigation as well as its development for gene transfer as a therapeutic modality. Transplant-related morbidity and mortality of allogeneic SCT is still significant due to acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and opportunistic infections (mainly reactivations of endogenous herpes viruses). Our research focusses on: · The identification and treatment of patients with an impaired immune recovery after transplantation at high risk for specific progressive viral infections (JWG, JC). · The development of interventions, including cytokine intervention therapy, to improve immune recovery after transplantation (JC, EB). · The development of alternative approaches to facilitate engraftment, including the selective induction of donor allo-antigen-specific tolerance by use of tolerogenic dendritic cells (EB, JC). · The development of gene therapeutic approaches for inherited diseases, spin-off acquired diseases, further development of hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cell transplantation using genemarked cells (GW). |
