Header Navigation

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic relapsing-remitting inflammatory disorders of the human gut with rising incidence worldwide, comprising the two clinical entities ulcerative colitis (UC) and crohn`s disease (CD). Chronicity, longterm adherence to medical treatment and the lack of causative treatments are among the factors that explain the high individual burden of disease. Genome-wide association studies have identified ATG16L1 as a risk gene

Most colon cancers have a chromosomal instability and show an abnormal number of chromosomes in the nucleus. This hallmark enables the tumor cells of having an increased mutation rate and therefore enhanced aggressiveness in more advanced stages. Our previous data showed that high expression of DIAPH2 in colon cancer correlates with low tumor stage, grading and nodal stage. Moreover, high DIAPH2 expression was associated with improved overall survival in patients.

Meningiomas are the most frequent primary tumors of the central nervous system. The typical treatment of nonsurgical resection. Afterwards, it is essential to distinguish benign from aggressive meningiomas. High-grade meningiomas may require additional radiation therapy. The current approach to identify the aggressiveness of a meningioma sample is histological inspection under the microscope. This approach has limitations and may not always adequately reflect the prognosis of individual patients.

Immunotherapies (IT) have successfully entered the clinical arena of oncology. From a neuro-oncological perspective, IT has not been a breakthrough, yet, but first clinical trials show immunotherapeutic efficacy. Immunotherapeutic modalities are manifold, including vaccinations of peptides, of ribonucleic acids, and cellular therapies. Essential for all above-mentioned modalities is the selection of a suitable tumor-specific target to be attacked by the immune system.

Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common form of chronic inflammatory arthritis. It leads untreated to painful joint destruction, massive disability and consequently to high socio-economic costs. Due to the poor knowledge about the development and early phase, many patients are diagnosed too late and thus suffer irreversible damage.

Gliomas are primary brain tumors and still associated with an extremely poor prognosis, despite ongoing research and development of therapeutic approaches. In the standard imaging of brain tumors by means of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the depiction of the tumor extent is highly challenging, so that the treatment planning for surgical removal and irradiation of the entire tumor is correspondingly difficult.

Importance of T cell receptor-specific activation pathways and T cell polarization in dependence on infection status

The demographic change leads to a steady increase of elderly patients in daily clinical practice, who often suffer from age-associated diseases involving several organs. In order to be able to treat this group of patients professionally, we need researching physicians from various disciplines who can address specific scientific questions as well as clinical tasks. The task of the interdisciplinary research program is to better prepare young physicians for this demanding clinical-scientific task through a structured qualification program and systematically promote their careers.