Can small molecule drugs restore the immune system’s ability to fight tuberculosis by boosting autophagy?

In the hunt for a vaccine against cervical cancer, fundamental knowledge about the immune system and organic chemistry have been brought together and have already resulted in a vaccine that is now being tested in clinical trials. Scientists are now working hard on an improved variant.

In autoimmune diseases such as rheumatism and diabetes the immune system attacks autologous proteins. Leiden researchers are trying to discover how this comes about.

Cardiovascular diseases are among the most frequent causes of death in the world. The main underlying pathology of cardiovascular diseases is the development of atherosclerosis in the medium and large-sized arteries.

Cardiovascular diseases are the primary cause of death in the world with atherosclerosis as primary underlying cause.

Promotor: Prof.dr. J. Kuiper

This thesis describes the synthesis and biological evaluation of TLR2/6, TLR4, TLR7/8 and TLR9 ligands, of which the activity can be conditionally controlled.

New drugs for use as tuberculosis (TB) treatment are needed due to the constrains of classical antibiotics against TB and the rise of antibiotic-resistant strains, making TB a harder and harder disease to treat.

This thesis focuses on two processes involved in fighting infections: metabolism and immune cell motility and navigation.

Promotor: H.P. Spaink, A.H. Meijer Co-promotor: R. Marin-Juez

Cardiovascular syndromes are the major cause of death in Western societies.

In this project, we aim to obtain a quantitative understanding of the role of the immune system in tumor regression, of the role of tumor cell heterogeneity in cancer growth and of tumor cell migration properties.

Promotores: Prof.dr. J. Kuiper, Prof.dr. P.H.A. Quax

The immune system plays an important role in the development of atherosclerosis, the underlying cause of cardiovascular diseases. Thomas van der Heijden has discovered that immunosuppressants may play a preventative role. PhD defence 19 December.

When foreign matter enters our body, our immune system has to make a choice whether or not to go on the attack. There are times when the system goes wrong, and we end up with an illness or an allergic reaction. Researchers at LUMC are trying to steer the immune system. The dossier on Immunity, Infection…

Promotor: G.F.A. Kersten, W. Jiskoot, Co-promotor: B. Metz

Promotores: T. Hankemeier; R. Berger, Co-promotor: R.J. Vreeken

When the immune system attacks cancer, the tumour modifies itself to escape the immune reaction. Researchers at LUMC published on this subject in Nature on 28 June.

Our immune system protects us against disease, but every now and then, something goes wrong: an enemy invades our bodies or our immune system attacks our own cells and we become ill. Doctors and researchers at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) want to be able to manipulate the immune system…

The Aging and Immunity group is led by Dr. Amanda Foks. In this group we aim to investigate how aged immune cells contribute to atherosclerosis and identify novel therapeutic targets and strategies to extend health span and inhibit cardiovascular disease.

The LUMC has a longstanding tradition researching the role of the immune system in infectious diseases, transplantation and auto-immune diseases.

With cancer, the immune system is a double-edged sword: it can attack tumour cells, but can also help them grow and spread. It is a question of harnessing it. This is what Professor Karin de Visser argued in her inaugural lecture on 15 November 2019.

The immune system plays a paradoxical role in the spread of breast cancer. Some immune cells contribute to metastasis, while other cells can be activated to strengthen the effect of chemotherapy. Kelly Kersten made this discovery in her PhD research. PhD defence 7 February.

What are the host immune defence mechanisms that control intracellular infections and how are these subverted by pathogens?

A group of chemists, that includes Sander van Kasteren and Hermen Overkleeft, has discovered that azides, a certain type of chemical compound, can determine whether or not T cells respond to or ignore a vaccine. Their discovery is set to be published in Angewandte Chemie.

Immunologist Leender Trouw specialises in the complement system, which is part of the immune system. In some diseases drugs help activate or inhibit this system. This is best done ‘in the right place at the right time’ − the title of his inaugural lecture.

Glucocorticoids (GCs) are widely prescribed as anti-inflammatory drugs due to their well-established immunosuppressive effects.

To what extent and in what manner can experimental video be used to reclaim the capacity for telling one’s own story, on one's own terms, speaking in tongues outside the linguistic framework of immune system discourse?

Traditionally, vaccines are administered intramuscularly using conventional hypodermic needles, which cause pain and distress. Microneedles are very short needles (smaller than 1 mm) that are practically invisible to the naked eye.

In this research project, we aimed to obtain more insight in the role of mast cells in the immune driven disorders rheumatoid arthritis and atherosclerosis.

On 10 September 2021, Professor Thorbald van Hall from the Department of Medical Oncology in the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) delivered his inaugural lecture ‘Tumour-immune interactions: control, escape and counterattack’. Van Hall used the opportunity to describe how - in a similar way to…

Promotores: J. Jonkers, K.E. de Visser

Promotor: Prof.dr. H.P. Spaink, Co-promotor: Prof.dr. A.H. Meijer

The Immune Activation and Tolerance group is headed by Dr. Bram Slütter. Vaccination is an experimental, but promising, treatment strategy for atherosclerosis. Previous work has shown that immunization of mice with modified LDL particles can reduce atherosclerotic lesion development, however such vaccines…

The cellular metabolism of immune cells constitutes an important part of their proper function and activation. Using T cells as an example, this phenomenon is highlighted by the metabolic reprogramming that occurs in these cells upon activation.

Overkleeft

One of the main challenges in the development of an effective anti-cancer vaccine is the generation of an adequate and directed cellular immune response.

A new therapy for the serious Graft-versus-Host disease

We showed that constitutive and inducible chemical and morphological defenses against Western flower thrips differ between tomato and chrysanthemum plants.

Promotor: A.H. Meijer, Co-promotor: B.E. Snaar-Jagalska

This thesis focuses on important life history traits and their trade-offs using two hexapod models. Particularly, the trade-off between immune defense and embryonic developmental speed is a central theme of this study.

Researchers and clinicians at Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) are about to begin a milestone clinical study. It will be the first time a stem cell gene therapy developed in the Netherlands is used in a clinic. The therapy will be used to treat children with SCID, a rare disorder where children…

Nanoparticles can be used as delivery systems for both small molecules and macromolecules such as proteins, peptides or oligonucleotides. This thesis focuses on the use of liposomes, nanometric vesicles formed by a lipid bilayer enclosing an aqueous core. Liposomes are highly versatile delivery syst…

Promotor: Prof.dr. J. Kuiper, Co-Promotor: S.C.A. de Jager

The research within the Division of Cell Systems and Drug Safety, headed by Prof. Bob van de Water, is focused on novel therapeutic modalities and novel concepts in early drug discovery, in order to develop more effective and safer therapeutic strategies. We generate advanced cell and computational…

Worldwide resurgence of pertussis necessitates the need for improvement of pertussis vaccines and vaccination strategies.

This work describes the use of click-to-release chemistry to get spatiotemporal control over immunocytokine activity. Until now, immunocytokines (cytokines coupled to a tumor-targeting-moiety) remained active throughout the body, being able to bind their respective receptors, causing mild to severe…

Healthy aging is one of the prime goals in today's society and atherosclerosis is among the greatest causes of morbidity in elderly. Cardiovascular disease patients receiving treatment are often of advanced aged and have an aged immune system, which limits translating experimental findings to the pa…

The potential of bioneedles to deliver influenza vaccines was investigated.