About – Hamburg Center for Translational Immunology (HCTI)

Background

Autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases are showing an increasing cumulative incidence. They are caused by a dysregulation of the immune system, leading to a pathological inflammatory response in various organ systems. Depending on the form of the disease and the affected organs, the clinical spectrum ranges from a decrease in quality of life to life-threatening courses. The HCTI (Hamburg Center of Translational Immunology) offers a nationally and internationally unique combination of organ-centered immunology, patient cohorts, new comparative analysis approaches, and comprehensive systems immunology. This presents an opportunity for a paradigm shift in understanding and treating autoimmune diseases.

Goals of the HCTI

The currently available therapies are mostly empirical in nature and involve general immunosuppression with sometimes severe side effects. The overarching goal of HCTI is to define why different organ systems exhibit such variable response patterns to the underlying autoimmune disease. From this, the aim is to generate fundamental insights for low-side-effect, and organ-specific as well as organ-overarching new therapies (HCTI DISCOVERY IDEA). To achieve this, HCTI brings together outstanding experts for very different immunotolerant organ systems (feto-maternal system, liver, intestine, central nervous system, and kidney) for the first time. Their collaboration aims to systematically and multidimensionally map and comparatively analyze immune reactions and tissue responses.

HCTI Translations Strategy

The HCTI Translations Strategy (HCTI DISCOVERY PATH) is based on (1.) partially unique patient cohorts and biobanks in the field of autoimmune organ manifestations (HCTI BIOBANKS AND ORGAN ENCYCLOPEDIA), which are intended to be utilized through the combination of high-resolution tissue techniques for the creation of molecular organ atlases; (2.) an experimental platform for the detailed analysis of immune processes and the interaction of immune and tissue structures (HCTI EXPERIMENTAL PLATFORM); (3.) preclinical, complementary models, including organoids, cell, and animal models, to dynamically analyze and manipulate disease-relevant signaling pathways (HCTI DISEASE MODELLING PLATFORM); (4.) an innovation platform (HCTI CLUSTER FOR INNOVATIVE THERAPIES, HCTI-CIT) in which immune, signaling, tissue, and cell-specific techniques are applied and further developed; and (5.) a study board (HCTI TRANSLATIONAL BOARDS) consisting of HCTI members and clinics from UKE, aiming to drive translation of results from HCTI into initial clinical studies.

Systems Immunology

All five research focal points are catalyzed and interconnected through systems immunology, including artificial intelligence-based immunology, using data management, analysis, modeling, prediction, and quality control (HCTI SYSTEMS AND AI-BASED IMMUNOLOGY CATALYST, HCTISysIm).