Our Laboratory focuses on human immunology with a strong interest in the development of B lymphocytes and antibodies. In particular, we are interested in the antibody response to HIV-1 and other infectious pathogens. We aim to precisely understand the biology of humoral immunity and to use this knowledge to effectively prevent and treat infectious diseases. To this end, our laboratory works with a wide range of techniques in molecular immunology and conducts clinical trials that enable us to translate our findings into clinical applications. Our group is dedicated to provide an excellent work environment to train young scientists and for pursuing forefront and innovative research.
Akkina R, Allam A, Balazs AB, Blankson JN, Burnett JC, Casares S, Garcia JV, Hasenkrug KJ, Kashanchi F, Kitchen SG, Klein F, Kumar P, Luster AD, Poluektova LY, Rao M, Sanders-Beer BE, Shultz LD, and Zack JA (2016). Improvements and limitations of humanized mouse models for hiv research: Nih/niaid "meet the experts" 2015 workshop summary. AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses 32, 109-119.
Gautam R, Nishimura Y, Pegu A, Nason MC, Klein F, Gazumyan A, Golijanin J, Buckler-White A, Sadjadpour R, Wang K, Mankoff Z, Schmidt SD, Lifson JD, Mascola JR, Nussenzweig MC, and Martin MA (2016). A single injection of anti-hiv-1 antibodies protects against repeated shiv challenges. Nature 533, 105-109.
Schoofs T, Klein F, Braunschweig M, Kreider EF, Feldmann A, Nogueira L, Oliveira T, Lorenzi JC, Parrish EH, Learn GH, West AP, Jr., Bjorkman PJ, Schlesinger SJ, Seaman MS, Czartoski J, McElrath MJ, Pfeifer N, Hahn BH, Caskey M, and Nussenzweig MC (2016). Hiv-1 therapy with monoclonal antibody 3bnc117 elicits host immune responses against hiv-1. Science 352, 997-1001.
Caskey, M.*, Klein, F.*, Lorenzi, J.C., Seaman, M.S., West, A.P., Jr., Buckley, N., Kremer, G., Nogueira, L., Braunschweig, M., Scheid, J.F., Horwitz, J.A., Shimeliovich, I., Ben-Avraham, S., Witmer-Pack, M., Platten, M., Lehmann, C., Burke, L.A., Hawthorne, T., Gorelick, R.J., Walker, B.D., Keler, T., Gulick, R.M., Fatkenheuer, G., Schlesinger, S.J., and Nussenzweig, M.C., Viraemia suppressed in HIV-1-infected humans by broadly neutralizing antibody 3BNC117.
Nature (2015).
Klein, F., Nogueira, L., Nishimura, Y., Phad, G., West, A.P., Jr., Halper-Stromberg, A., Horwitz, J.A., Gazumyan, A., Liu, C., Eisenreich, T.R., Lehmann, C., Fatkenheuer, G., Williams, C., Shingai, M., Martin, M.A., Bjorkman, P.J., Seaman, M.S., Zolla-Pazner, S., Karlsson Hedestam, G.B., and Nussenzweig, M.C., Enhanced HIV-1 immunotherapy by commonly arising antibodies that target virus escape variants.
J Exp Med.(2014).
Klein, F., Mouquet, H., Dosenovic, P., Scheid, J.F., Scharf, L., and Nussenzweig, M.C., Antibodies in HIV-1 vaccine development and therapy. Science (2013).
Klein, F., Diskin, R., Scheid, J.F., Gaebler, C., Mouquet, H., Georgiev, I.S., Pancera, M., Zhou, T., Incesu, R.B., Fu, B.Z., Gnanapragasam, P.N., Oliveira, T.Y., Seaman, M.S., Kwong, P.D., Bjorkman, P.J., and Nussenzweig, M.C., Somatic mutations of the immunoglobulin framework are generally required for broad and potent HIV-1 neutralization. Cell (2013).
Klein, F., Halper-Stromberg, A., Horwitz, J.A., Gruell, H., Scheid, J.F., Bournazos, S., Mouquet, H., Spatz, L.A., Diskin, R., Abadir, A., Zang, T., Dorner, M., Billerbeck, E., Labitt, R.N., Gaebler, C., Marcovecchio, P.M., Incesu, R.B., Eisenreich, T.R., Bieniasz, P.D., Seaman, M.S., Bjorkman, P.J., Ravetch, J.V., Ploss, A., and Nussenzweig, M.C., HIV therapy by a combination of broadly neutralizing antibodies in humanized mice. Nature (2012).
Caskey, M., Klein, F., and Nussenzweig, M.C. (2019). Broadly neutralizing anti-HIV-1 monoclonal antibodies in the clinic. Nat Med 25, 547-53.
Doring, M., Kreer, C., Lehnen, N., Klein, F., and Pfeifer, N. (2019). Modeling the Amplification of Immunoglobulins through Machine Learning on Sequence-Specific Features. Sci Rep 9, 10748.
Khera, T., Behrendt, P., Bankwitz, D., Brown, R.J.P., Todt, D., Doepke, M., Khan, A.G., Schulze, K., Law, J., Logan, M., Hockman, D., Wong, J.A.J., Dold, L., Gonzalez-Motos, V., Spengler, U., Viejo-Borbolla, A., Stroh, L.J., Krey, T., Tarr, A.W., Steinmann, E., Manns, M.P., Klein, F., Guzman, C.A., Marcotrigiano, J., Houghton, M., and Pietschmann, T. (2019). Functional and immunogenic characterization of diverse HCV glycoprotein E2 variants. J Hepatol 70, 593-602.
Stecher, M., Classen, A., Klein, F., Lehmann, C., Gruell, H., Platten, M., Wyen, C., Behrens, G., Fatkenheuer, G., and Vehreschild, J.J. (2019). Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis of Treatment Interruptions in HIV-1 Infected Patients Receiving Antiretroviral Therapy: Implications for Future HIV Cure Trials. Clin Infect Dis10.1093/cid/ciz417
Bar-On Y, Gruell H, Schoofs T, Pai JA, Nogueira L, Butler AL, Millard K, Lehmann C, Suarez I, Oliveira TY, Karagounis T, Cohen YZ, Wyen C, Scholten S, Handl L, Belblidia S, Dizon JP, Vehreschild JJ, Witmer-Pack M, Shimeliovich I, Jain K, Fiddike K, Seaton KE, Yates NL, Horowitz J, Gulick RM, Pfeifer N, Tomaras GD, Seaman MS, Fatkenheuer G, Caskey M, Klein F, and Nussenzweig MC (2018). Safety and antiviral activity of combination HIV-1 broadly neutralizing antibodies in viremic individuals. Nat Med10.1038/s41591-018-0186-4.
Khera T, Behrendt P, Bankwitz D, Brown RJP, Todt D, Doepke M, Khan AG, Schulze K, Law J, Logan M, Hockman D, Wong JAJ, Dold L, Gonzalez-Motos V, Spengler U, Viejo-Borbolla A, Stroh LJ, Krey T, Tarr AW, Steinmann E, Manns MP, Klein F, Guzman CA, Marcotrigiano J, Houghton M, and Pietschmann T (2018). Functional and immunogenic characterization of diverse HCV glycoprotein E2 variants. J Hepatol10.1016/j.jhep.2018.11.003.
Lu CL, Pai JA, Nogueira L, Mendoza P, Gruell H, Oliveira TY, Barton J, Lorenzi JCC, Cohen YZ, Cohn LB, Klein F, Caskey M, Nussenzweig MC, and Jankovic M (2018). Relationship between intact HIV-1 proviruses in circulating CD4(+) T cells and rebound viruses emerging during treatment interruption. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 115, E11341-E11348.
Meder L, Konig K, Dietlein F, Macheleidt I, Florin A, Ercanoglu MS, Rommerscheidt-Fuss U, Koker M, Schon G, Odenthal M, Klein F, Buttner R, Schulte JH, Heukamp LC, and Ullrich RT (2018). LIN28B enhanced tumorigenesis in an autochthonous KRAS(G12V)-driven lung carcinoma mouse model. Oncogene 37, 2746-2756.
Mendoza P, Gruell H, Nogueira L, Pai JA, Butler AL, Millard K, Lehmann C, Suarez I, Oliveira TY, Lorenzi JCC, Cohen YZ, Wyen C, Kummerle T, Karagounis T, Lu CL, Handl L, Unson-O'Brien C, Patel R, Ruping C, Schlotz M, Witmer-Pack M, Shimeliovich I, Kremer G, Thomas E, Seaton KE, Horowitz J, West AP, Jr., Bjorkman PJ, Tomaras GD, Gulick RM, Pfeifer N, Fatkenheuer G, Seaman MS, Klein F, Caskey M, and Nussenzweig MC (2018). Combination therapy with anti-HIV-1 antibodies maintains viral suppression. Nature 561, 479-484.
Gruell H, and Klein F (2018). Antibody-mediated prevention and treatment of HIV-1 infection. Retrovirology 15, 73.
Caskey, M., Schoofs, T., Gruell, H., Settler, A., Karagounis, T., Kreider, E.F., Murrell, B., Pfeifer, N., Nogueira, L., Oliveira, T.Y., Learn, G.H., Cohen, Y.Z., Lehmann, C., Gillor, D., Shimeliovich, I., Unson-O'Brien, C., Weiland, D., Robles, A., Kummerle, T., Wyen, C., Levin, R., Witmer-Pack, M., Eren, K., Ignacio, C., Kiss, S., West, A.P., Jr., Mouquet, H., Zingman, B.S., Gulick, R.M., Keler, T., Bjorkman, P.J., Seaman, M.S., Hahn, B.H., Fatkenheuer, G., Schlesinger, S.J., Nussenzweig, M.C., and Klein, F. (2017). Antibody 10-1074 suppresses viremia in HIV-1-infected individuals. Nat Med 23, 185-91.
Gruell, H., and Klein, F. (2017). Progress in HIV-1 antibody research using humanized mice. Curr Opin HIV AIDS 12, 285-93.
Nishimura, Y., Gautam, R., Chun, T.W., Sadjadpour, R., Foulds, K.E., Shingai, M., Klein, F., Gazumyan, A., Golijanin, J., Donaldson, M., Donau, O.K., Plishka, R.J., Buckler-White, A., Seaman, M.S., Lifson, J.D., Koup, R.A., Fauci, A.S., Nussenzweig, M.C., and Martin, M.A. (2017). Early antibody therapy can induce long-lasting immunity to SHIV. Nature 543, 559-63.
Information from this funding period will not be updated anymore. New research related information is available here.
Antibody-mediated therapy and prevention of infectious pathogens
Institute of Virology
CMMC - PI - assoc. RG 10
Executive Board Member
show more…+49 221 478 89693
+49 221 478 3904
Institute of Virology
Robert-Koch-Str. 21
50931 Cologne
Copyright ©
Prof. Dr. med. Thomas Benzing
Chair of the CMMC
