PhD defence by Mikkel Dons Müller

Virus-derived Antigens as Immunotherapeutic Targets in Cancer

Assessment Committee:
Professor Anders Miki Bojesen, Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen (Chairperson)
Professor Sine Reker Hadrup, Technical University of Denmark, Department of Health Technology
Professor George Kassiotis, Francis Crick Institute and Imperial College London, Department of Retrovirology

Supervisors:
Professor Lea Klingenberg Barfod
Clinical Research Associate Professor Jeppe Tang Friborg

Department:
Department of Immunology and Microbiology

Graduate Programme:
Clinical Cancer Research

Place:
Building: 13, Room: Nielsine Nielsen Auditoriet, Blegdamsvej 3B, 2200

Email address to gain access to the thesis: tvf903@ku.dk 
You will either receive a copy of the thesis or be informed where you can read a physical copy.
Recipients of copies of the thesis are not allowed to share or distribute it due to copyright compliance.

Short description of the thesis:
Can vaccination for a virus be key to eliminating cancer? In my PhD thesis we explore how targeting tumour associated antigens of viral nature can establish tumour eliminating immunity. At the defence you will hear about how we identified and targeted human papilloma virus and human endogenous retrovirus and how this became two separate companies heading for phase I trials. We will discuss the theoretical challenges of chosing a target in the context of central tolerance, immune exhaustion and historical failures as well as how to build the preclinical translational package necessary to go to clinical trials.