Research The Bayer Scientific Magazin, Edition 28

How will immunotherapy, particularly checkpoint inhibition, 

change cancer treatment?

I expect this method to become established as an integral part of 

cancer treatment over the next few years and to offer real pros-

pects for a cure in many cases. Checkpoint inhibition will help us 

understand how the immune system can fight cancer, and which 

characteristics in tumor tissue are relevant to the process.

Are there any kinds of cancer that respond particularly well to 

treatment?

The greatest success will undoubtedly be in the field of malignant 

melanoma. But we have also made tremendous progress in recent 

years in immunotherapy for aggressive, malignant and hard-to-

treat brain tumors. By decoding the associated traits, we also hope 

to find an immunotherapeutic method for combating other tumors 

which in the past were considered resistant to immunotherapy, 

such as glioblastoma or pancreatic cancer.

“ Immunotherapy will 

become standard”

Michael 

Platten

How can the side effects of immunotherapy be better controlled 

in the future?

We can succeed in this area by understanding in which patients 

checkpoint inhibition is effective, and which tumor characteristics 

are the determining factors. Basically, checkpoint inhibitors only 

strengthen a pre-existing immune response to cancer cells. Once 

we are capable of targeting these already existing, tumor-specific 

immune cells, then no non-specific side effects would be expected 

to occur. However, this presupposes that each patient is given per-

sonalized immunotherapy.

Professor Michael Platten is a senior physician in Neurology 

at Heidelberg University Hospital and group leader in Neuro-

immunology and Brain Tumor Immunology at the DKFZ. research 

spoke with him about the opportunities presented by immuno-

therapies.

A steady hand in the lab: Bayer’s scientists at all of the Pharmaceuticals sites in Germany are playing their part in the development of new cancer 

 treatments. In Cologne, for example, biology lab technician Christina Scholl prepares microtiter plates for an experiment.

Bayer research 28    July 2015

13

---

Keeping an eye on the details and the big picture: Dr. Lars Röse and Dr. Bertolt Kreft (photo left, left to right) supervise and coordinate Bayer’s research 

work on immunotherapeutics in cancer treatment. In Bayer’s laboratories in Berlin (photo right), Dr. Ervinna Pang examines human cell cultures under 

the microscope. 

cancer, for instance, used to be a death sentence, but checkpoint 

blockade is proving effective in patients with this disease. “They 

are living significantly longer,” Aswad says. Promising study data 

also suggest a positive outlook for malignant melanoma, as well 

as kidney and bladder tumors. 

The treatment is designed to act directly on the surface of 

the cells. Our immune cells – including the T-lymphocytes – are 

equipped with various and very specific receptors, including re-

ceptors with an inhibitory function. Many cancer cells, however, 

are equipped with inhibitory ligands allowing them to bind to 

these receptors on the surface of the immune cells. As a result, 

a biochemical cascade is triggered in the cell which ultimate-

ly halts the attack on the cancer. “The goal of the checkpoint 

blockade is to prevent this binding between the immune receptor 

and inhibitory ligands of the cancer cells, and thus prevent the 

body’s immune response from being shut down,” Kreft explains. 

He and his colleagues in research therefore use antibodies that 

act as tiny blockades to interrupt the signals. These protein mol-

ecules bind only to structures that fit perfectly in their receptors, 

like a key in a lock. “We want to develop specific antibodies, 

which either dock onto the ligand on the tumor, or onto the 

corresponding receptor of the lymphocytes,” Kreft says, explain-

ing the principle. As a result, the receptor would be occupied 

and the tumor would no longer be able to shut down the im-

mune cell: the body’s immune system could continue fighting  

the cancer. 

Kreft and his colleagues are working together to track down as 

many of these therapeutic approaches as possible. The oncolo-

gists are also collaborating closely with the specialists at the Ger-

man Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg to jointly de-

velop immunotherapies for tumor diseases. As well as conducting 

research in their own laboratories, the specialists are also work-

ing together to hunt for solutions. “Nine Bayer and DKFZ em-

ployees are doing research together at the Joint Lab in Heidelberg 

at present,” says Dr. Lars Röse, lab head in Oncology Research for 

Immunotherapy and Antibody Conjugates at Bayer HealthCare 

in Berlin. “The DKFZ researchers are specialists for specific ther-

apeutic targets,” Röse explains. The joint projects therefore give 

Bayer researchers access to unique expertise for new therapy ap-

proaches. “And we contribute our expertise in drug development,”  

adds Röse.

When the body attacks 

itself

Immune cells receive instructions from a mass of complex sig-

nals. An organism ensures in this way that the cells attack only 

pathogens or cancerous body tissue. In humans suffering from 

an autoimmune disease, these regulatory mechanisms no lon-

ger function properly: the immune system perceives the body’s 

own cells as foreign and attacks them. In multiple sclerosis, for 

instance, the insulating covers of the nerve cells are destroyed, 

disrupting the ability of the nervous system to communicate and 

resulting in symptoms ranging from vision problems to paralysis.

Jointly searching for new approaches to 

 innovative immunotherapies

14

Bayer research 28    July 2015

---