research 27 publications: a. krackhardt, b. anliker, m. hildebrandt, m.p. bachmann, s.b. eichmüller, d. nettelbeck, m. renner, l. uharek, g. willimsky, m. schmitt, w.s. wels, m. schüssler-lenz: clinical translation and regulatory aspects of car/tcr-based adoptive cell therapies – the german cancer consortium approach, in cancer immunology, immunotherapy, 2018 (doi: 10.1007/s00262-018-2119-y) r. aliperta, p.b. welzel, r. bergmann, u. freudenberg, n. berndt, a. feldmann, c. arndt, s. koristka, m. stanzione, m. cartellieri, a. ehninger, g. ehninger, c. werner, j. pietzsch, j. steinbach, m. bornhauser, m.p. bachmann: cryogel- supported stem cell factory for customized sustained release of bispecific antibodies for cancer immunotherapy, in scientific reports, 2017 (doi: 10.1038/srep42855) m. cartellieri, a. feldmann, s. koristka, c. arndt, s. loff, a. ehninger, m. von bonin, e.p. bejestani, g. ehninger, m.p. bachmann: switching car t cells on and off: a novel modular platform for retargeting of t cells to aml blasts, in blood cancer journal, 2016 (doi: 10.1038/bcj.2016.61) r. aliperta, m. cartellieri, a. feldmann, c. arndt, s. koristka, i. michalk, m. von bonin, a. ehninger, j. bachmann, g. ehninger, m. bornhäuser, m.p. bachmann: bispecific antibody releasing-mesenchymal stromal cell machinery for retargeting t cells towards acute myeloid leukemia blasts, in blood cancer journal, 2015 (doi: 10.1038/bcj.2015.73) contact _institute of radiopharmaceutical cancer research at hzdr / carl gustav carus university hospital dresden / tu dresden prof. michael bachmann m.bachmann@hzdr.de the costs and risks of a hype bachmann was skeptical ten or fifteen years ago – and despite the current euphoria, he still is: “when you transfer cells that have been manipulated like this to patients, then they are inside them. and i can’t control their behavior, i can’t switch them on and off. that’s not ideal to put it mildly.” if something goes wrong inside a patient’s body, it can have devastating side effects, and may even be fatal. “this was a risk i personally felt was too great to take,” says the pharmacist and immunologist. apart from which, you need to be able to visualize the course of therapy. the requisite technologies are one of hzdr’s specialties because this is where the necessary radioactively marked molecules, so- called tracers, are developed, something only undertaken by a few institutes around the world. consequently, some six years ago, bachmann moved to hzdr’s institute of radiopharmaceutical cancer research. in order to take control of the modified t cells, the dresden researchers soon started to try and develop controllable cars, which they called unicars. this is a system – the researchers speak of a platform – whereby the t cells do not recognize the tumor cells directly, as they do in cars, but through a universal link, a peptide. and this bonds with an antibody, the target module, which, in its turn, docks on to the tumor cell – effectively, a combination of bispecific antibodies and car technology. and this is where bachmann’s research comes full circle back to the ideas that were circulating at the time of his habilitation – because the universal link has elements that he and his colleagues were familiar with from research on autoimmune diseases. thanks to this link, they can therapeutically control unicar t cells at last and, if necessary, switch “the drug” on and off. by coupling with suitable radionuclides, it is also possible to make the tumor inside the patient visible, as well. whether all this will now produce a successful therapy is still uncertain because this will only become clear when the first patients are treated: “of course, we’re convinced that the therapy will be successful. but even if it weren’t, to have got this far is already a major stage victory,” bachmann concludes. patient trials will probably begin at the end of the year. clinicians usually refer to them as phase 1 clinical trials. two further phases will follow involving increasing numbers of patients. only when they have been completed successfully will the authorities license the drug. as can be seen, it takes many years for the ideas, successes and defeats to actually become a drug that can help people safely. by the time it is licensed as a drug, bachmann will probably already be emeritus. nevertheless, he is optimistic about the future: “i’m just pleased that we have got to this point and have created at least an opportunity for others to further improve the whole thing – if necessary.”