Ann-Katrin Schlosser

Since Sep 2022
PhD student, Immunotherapy and Immunoprevention, DKFZ, Heidelberg

2019 - 2022
MSc Molecular Biosciences with Major in Cancer Biology, Ruprecht-Karls-University and DKFZ, Heidelberg

2016 - 2019
BSc Biosciences, Ruprecht-Karls-University, Heidelberg

Therapeutic vaccination against orthotopic HPV-dependent cancers in MHC-humanized mice

Cervical cancer, other anogenital cancers and a subset of oropharyngeal cancers are caused by persistent infection with high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPV). Current research focuses on the development of targeted immunotherapies for HPV-driven cancers, including therapeutic vaccination. Our group validated several promising HLA-restricted target epitopes derived from the HPV16 E6 and E7 oncoproteins and developed a peptide-based vaccine targeting the lead epitope HPV16 E7_11-19. Previous experiments already demonstrated a therapeutic potential of the vaccine in subcutaneous tumors. However, one of the major hurdles of therapeutic vaccination is to target the induced antigen-specific T cells to the correct tumor site. Therefore, we established a novel HPV16-dependent tumor model in MHC-humanized A2.DR1 mice at two biologically relevant anatomical sites, namely the female genital tract and the base of the tongue. The aim of this project is to assess the efficacy of several vaccine formulations, alone or in combination with other treatment modalities, in these two orthotopic tumor models. In the first phase of this project, tumor regression and systemic and intra-tumoral T cell responses will be assessed in tumor-bearing animals that are treated with therapeutic vaccines alone. In the second phase of this project, the vaccines will be combined with image-guided stereotactic radiotherapy and immune-checkpoint blockade.