Alina Steinbach receives the Nicola Werner Prize for cancer research

For several years, it has been possible to vaccinate and protect patients against an infection from some carcinogenic HPV types. However, the vaccine is powerless if the cells are already infected or have even mutated already. Therefore, the research group Immunotherapy and Prevention at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), headed by Angelika Riemer, is researching a therapeutic vaccine. It is designed to train the immune system to detect and destroy virus-infected cells.

This is not an easy task: the malignant tumors caused by the HPV infection are able to avoid presenting antigens such as the viral proteins from the cell interior on their surface. For a therapeutic vaccine, it is however important that the T cells of the immune system are able to distinguish the tumor cells from healthy cells and can thus specifically target them.

In her doctoral thesis Alina Steinbach therefore investigated what exactly happens inside HPV16-positive tumor cells during processing of the viral antigens, the so-called antigen processing. She came across an enzyme that in healthy cells is responsible for cutting up proteins in a way that makes them fit on the "display area" on the cell surface, the so-called MHC molecule. In the cancer pre-stages and tissues investigated, this enzyme was produced excessively, but the viral antigens failed to land on the cell surface. Steinbach then throttled the production of the enzyme in the HPV16-positive tumor cells, whereupon certain T cells recognized and attacked the infected cells. The HPV16-positive tumor cells appear to protect themselves against attacks from the immune system through an over-expression of this protein. "We now want to use this knowledge to create a therapeutic immune response," says Alina Steinbach. "The Nicola Werner Prize will help us to achieve this."

For her work, Alina Steinbach now receives the Nicola Werner price worth 2000Euros. It is named after the artist Nicola Werner, who fell ill in 2008 with a HPV-related tumor and campaigned relentlessly to raise awareness for preventive options like a vaccination. Since her death in the spring of 2016, her husband Moritz Werner has been continuing her mission: In September, in memory of Nicola Werner, friends and relatives organized a sponsorship cycling marathon from Paris, where the family lives, to Cabourg in Normandy. The 54-year-old's guiding principle printed on their jerseys gave them extra strength: "Live the music that plays inside of you". They managed to raise 4000Euros. The other half of the prize money recognizes HPV research work at the Institute Gustave Roussy in Paris. The Institute Gustave Roussy is currently exhibiting the artist's paintings as well as a photo documentation of her medical history. Her work was already on show at the DKFZ in the summer, entitled "Kunst gegen Krebs".

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Legend: Alina Steinbach has been awarded the first Nicola Werner Prize.

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