University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Lübeck
University of Lübeck

(UL)

Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology

Research Group: Immunoregulation and Translational Rheumatology

The focus area of research

Our group focuses on the pathophysiology of impaired immunoregulation leading to breach of tolerance in systemic autoimmune diseases and the mechanisms of therapeutically used interleukin-2 (IL-2) as a prerequisite for advancing and extending the clinical development of this novel therapeutic concept in chronic inflammatory diseases. We discovered that a disruption of regulatory T cell (Treg) homeostasis due to an acquired deficiency of IL-2 plays a central role in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Being first in the world, we provided evidence that recovery and expansion of Treg by low-dose IL-2 therapy is clinically effective in patients with refractory SLE. Given the emerging evidence for the clinical potential of low-dose IL-2 therapy in SLE and other inflammatory diseases, the efficacy and mode-of-action of more selective and efficient IL-2 components need to be evaluated in depth in established mouse models of autoimmune and inflammatory conditions including SLE-associated atherosclerosis.

We also focus on the visualization and image processing of tissue inflammation, including the histopathological and morphological evaluation of samples derived from human and mouse models by innovative imaging techniques. To precisely spatiotemporally resolve cellular migration in emerging tissue inflammation, we chart the dynamics of effector cell recruitment into the tissue in vivo.

In our lab and together with our collaboration partners, we have access to routine and state-of-art research technologies such as multicolor flow cytometry including spectral analyzer, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), multiphoton intravital imaging, organ-on-a-chip technology, scRNA-seq, mass spectrometry, and advanced cell analyzer.

For more information, please visit our webpage: https://www.uksh.de/rheuma-luebeck/Forschung+_+Lehre/Arbeitsgruppen/AG+Humrich.html

The team

Jens Humrich, M.D.

Group Leader

Dr. Jens Y. Humrich is a board-certified rheumatologist and currently holds a position as head of the inpatient clinic and senior research group leader at the Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology of the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein in Lübeck, Germany. He graduated in human medicine at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in 2003 and completed his specialization in Internal Medicine (2012) and Rheumatology (2014) at Charité – University Medicine Berlin, Germany. He received his habilitation in 2023.

His research mainly focuses on mechanisms of impairedimmune regulation in the pathogenesis of systemic autoimmune diseases and the clinical translation of novel immunotherapeutic approaches. During his work as a scientist at the German Rheumatism Research Center (DRFZ) Berlin he developed the concept of low-dose IL-2 therapy for SLE and was responsible for the implementation of an investigator-initiated clinical trial with low-dose IL-2 therapy in SLE.

Reza Akbarzadeh, Ph.D.

Junior group Leader

Dr. Reza Akbarzadeh is an Immunologist and lecturer at the University of Lübeck. He received his Ph.D. in Immunology at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel in 2015. After working for several years as a postdoctoral fellow, he received his Habilitation in Immunology in 2022. He currently holds a junior group leader position at the Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology with a focus on Immunoregulation and Translational Rheumatology.

His main research interests are the modulation of chronic inflammation in autoimmune rheumatic and skin diseases. To unravel the pathogenies of these complex diseases he mainly employs in vitro model systems and pre-clinical animal models. Translation into patient care is achieved by close cooperation with the Clinic of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology at Lübeck.