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Immunotherapy - a new weapon against cancer
Ich melde mich wieder aus dem mittlerweile ziemlich winterlichen New Haven. All die schönen Herbstfarben sind schon von den Bäumen verschwunden und eine eisige Kälte hat sich ausgebreitet, die erfahrungsgemäß bis in den März/April hier verweilen wird.
n this report I would like to tell you a little bit about what I am actually working on here. There has been an enormous breakthrough in cancer therapy in recent years. So-called immunotherapies have been developed that are based on using the body's own immune system against cancer cells. For many patients, these therapies were and are life-saving.
However, for some patients this type of therapy unfortunately does not work at all or can even lead to unacceptable side effects. Doctors and scientists all over the world have been looking fort he reasons for this. Meanwhile, we already have some explanations and have developed systems to predict the likelihood that a patient will respond to certain types of immunotherapy.
How immunotherapy works 
Of course, our goal is to be able to offer as many cancer patients as possible a suitable therapy that is not only effective but also safe to use. That is why my colleagues and I are researching a new method that involves the innate immune system in cancer therapy.
Perhaps you are now wondering what exactly the "innate immune system" is and how what I am working on differs from existing immunotherapies. When we talk about the immune system, we distinguish between the "innate immune system" and the "adaptive immune system". The former consists of cells that are designed to quickly recognize and fight pathogens, such as bacteria or viruses. The way these cells identify pathogens is a result of millions of years of evolution.
The innate immune system is essential to protect us from infections. Every healthy person is born with a functioning innate immune system. In contrast to the innate immune system, the adaptive immune system is adaptive. Once it has recognised an intruder, it forms so-called memory cells and can react faster and more effectively next time. The innate and adaptive immune systems work very closely together, communicate with each other via messenger substances and together achieve efficient defence against most of the pathogens to which we are exposed.
In principle, immune cells are also able to recognize cancer cells. But they do not always succeed. One reason for this is that cancer cells have developed mechanisms to hide from the immune system. Immunotherapies used today primarily aim at stimulating the adaptive immune system. We are investigating how the innate immune system can be better integrated into cancer immunotherapy. In our experiments, we were able to achieve great success by stimulating the innate immune system.
Promoting trust in science These processes are of course all much more complicated than I have presented them here, but I hope that they will make the concept easier to understand. Unfortunately, many people today have a bad image of science.
One reason might be that scientific papers (the form in which we publish our research) are very complicated to read. If you don't speak excellent English and you don't have a university education in various scientific fields, you don't really have a chance to understand them. This is a pity, of course, and often leads to the dissemination of half-knowledge or false information and to a decline of confidence in science. That is a very big problem.
That's why I try to tell you more about my work in an understandable way over the next few months and also show the experiments we do in videos. During my time here at the Yale School of Medicine, I have met so many brilliant researchers who really put their heart and soul into their work that we can continue to make medical progress and develop new therapies.
I would like to see the confidence of the general public in science grow again soon. I can only contribute a small part at the moment, but I am optimistic.
Saskia's reports
Saskia's report no. 1: What I actually do here in the USA
Saskia's report no. 2: Saskia's work at Yale School of Medicine
Saskia's report no. 3: Tour of the laboratory
Saskia's report no. 4: Home visit over Christmas
Saskia's report no. 5: Plans for the future
Saskia's report no. 6: Current situation in the USA
Saskia's report no. 7: New every-day-life in isolation
Saskia's report no. 8: Yale Campustour
Saskia's report no. 9: Where to begin? What a month!
Saskia's report no. 10: Moving day to New York City
Saskia's report no. 11: The first weeks in New York City
Saskia's report no. 12: Farewell
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