Jürgen Scheller

Synthetic cytokine signaling

Cytokines control immune-related events and are critically involved in a plethora of physiological and pathophysiological processes including autoimmunity and cancer development. Accordingly, modulation of natural cytokine signaling by antibodies and small molecules has improved therapeutic treatment regimens. Synthetic biology set out to optimize immune therapeutics, with CAR T cell immunotherapy being the first example to combine synthetic biology with genetic engineering during therapy. We have developed a modular fully synthetic cytokine signaling system that precisely orchestrated cellular responses by selectively inducing pro- and anti-apoptotic signaling via canonical dimeric receptors of the IL-6 family and non-canonical trimeric receptor complexes of the TNF superfamily. The latest development resulted in a non-immunogenic full-synthetic cytokine/cytokine receptor pair for in vivo therapeutic strategies involving non-physiological targets during immunotherapy.