Nitya Mohan
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Scientific CV
| 2016 - 2021 | PhD student, Immunotherapy and Immunoprevention, DKFZ, Heidelberg |
| Dec 2014 - Jun 2015 | Junior Research Fellow, PostGraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India |
| 2011 - 2014 | MSc (Research) Biology, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India |
| 2008 - 2011 | BSc Biochemistry, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India |
Research Project
Is hypoxia hindering or promoting CD8+ T cell mediated killing of HPV16-transformed cells?
The aim of the group is the development of a therapeutic vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV)-transformed cancers and their precursor lesions. HPV-induced cancers have long been considered the ideal scenario for the development of a therapeutic cancer vaccine, as viral proteins (especially the early proteins E6 and E7) can serve as immune targets.
An important parameter to consider for the design of a therapeutic vaccine is the tumor microenvironment. Hypoxia has been shown to influence the activities of various immune cells. In addition, the expression of the E6 and E7 target proteins is decreased in HPV16-transformed cells in a hypoxic environment. Thus, the aim of this project was to investigate whether hypoxia affects antigen presentation, and CD8+ T cell-mediated killing of HPV16-transformed cells. The hypoxic microenvironment might be one of the reasons contributing to the so far limited clinical success to of therapeutic vaccines for HPV-induced malignancies. Thus, elucidating effects of hypoxia may help to remove roadblocks for clinical success of therapeutic HPV vaccines.
Resulting Publications
Mohan N, Wellach K, Özerdem C, Veits N, Förster JD, Foehr S, Bonsack M, Riemer AB.
Blatnik R, Mohan N, Bonsack M, Falkenby LG, Hoppe S, Josef K, Steinbach A, Becker S, Nadler WM, Rucevic M, Larsen MR, Salek M, Riemer AB.