NEWS
New study from the lab characterizes immune signatures of variant syndromes of primary biliary cholangitis and autoimmune hepatitis
26 April 2023
We are excited to share our new study on the (patho)immunology of variant syndromes of PBC and AIH.
We found that immunogenetic features of B and T cells were good general separators for autoimmune liver disease but less robust for the individual disease subset. However, plasma profiling revealed that the soluble forms of CD25, LAG-3, CD86, and Tim-3 may represent important discriminators between AIH and PBC that could be used to complement established clinical and laboratory parameters such as liver function tests, autoantibodies and Ig levels.
Link to the study published in Hepatology communications.
Mascha Binder is now head of Medical Oncology at University Hospital Basel
01 April 2023
We are very happy to announce that Mascha was appointed Professor of Medical Oncology at the Faculty of Medicine at the University Basel and now also heads the Medical Oncology at the University Hospital of Basel.
The Binder Lab is very proud and excited to continue our work at the Department of Biomedicine soon!
Link to the press release of the University Basel.
Results from the INTEGA study are published in JAMA Oncology
23 June 2022
The results from the AIO INTEGA trial with Alex Stein are now published at JAMA Oncology.
Gastric cancer can remain undetected for a long time because of the often non-specific symptoms in the early stages thus complicating therapy when the cancer is diagnosed in advanced stages. For HER2-positive esophagogastric adenocarcinomas, the current standard of care is the combination of the HER2 antibody trastuzumab and chemotherapy with an average survival of 15 months after diagnosis.
The AIO INTEGA trial was desigend to compare HER2 antibody therapy and potent immuno-therapy (nivolumab and ipilimumab) with the current standard of care plus nivolumab. While the first regimen showed comparable results to the current standard of care, patients in the second group lived an average of 22 months - 7 months longer than when treated without the use of immunotherapy.
This study demonstrates that immunotherapy as addition to the previous standard of care has a positive impact on disease progression and can prolong the survival of patients with HER2-positive gastric cancer.
Our study on post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) is now published
21 June 2022
Data from the COVID-19 module of the DigiHero trial addressing post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) is now published in Cell Reports Medicine.
It has become increasingly clear that in a substantial number of COVID-19 patients who cleared the underlying SARS-CoV-2 infection, severe health impairments can persist for months. The pathophysiology of PASC ("longCOVID") is still largely unknown and may depend on acute severity and course of COVID-19.
By using a digital epidemiology approach including blood sampling, we show that PASC persists in up to 60% of patients with mild COVID-19 up to 24 months. We also found that PASC is associated with persistent elevation of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF plasma levels.
Single-cell RNA sequencing analyses of samples from acute COVID-19 suggest that these cytokine levels are potentially secreted from overactivated monocytes/macrophages.
New publication on B cell maturation after SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination
09 May 2022
The first data from the DigiHero is now officially published in Frontiers in Immunology.
We tracked B cells from individuals participating in the DigiHero study through their vaccination series including a third "booster" shot.
The percentage of antigen experienced SARS-CoV-2-specific B cells was low after the first two vaccinations but evolved over months and increased steeply after boosting. The third vaccination mobilized not only naïve, but also antigen-experienced B cell clones into further rapid somatic hypermutation trajectories indicating increased affinity.
These findings may explain why the third, but not the primary vaccination series, offers some protection against immune-escape variants such as Omicron.
For more info on the DigiHero trial click here.
Welcome Denis!
01 April 2022
The Binderlab welcomes its newest member Denis Owczarek!
Denis has lots of academic and industry experience in antibody discovery and production.
We are really happy that he will help us to develop new CAR T cells.
Happy new year 2022
01 January 2022
The Binderlab wishes all of you and your friends and families a happy new year and a good start into 2022!
We have some big plans and are looking forward for the things to come.
Meanwhile, we celebrate this with a little gift to ourseleves and finally launch this website.