Cell Death, Cancer and Inflammation

Research focus

Research in the Walczak Laboratory is focused on cell death and ubiquitin in inflammation, cancer and immunity. The lab is particularly interested in unravelling the mechanisms on how different death receptor-ligand systems such as the TNF, Fas (CD95) and TRAIL systems are regulated and how they impact cancer cell survival, cancer-related inflammation and immunity. The research aims are to develop novel cancer therapies by specifically inducing cancer cell death and by therapeutically directing the type of death induced in cancer cells to convert cancer-related inflammation from being immune-regulatory to enabling the immune system to recognise and kill cancer cells.

Fig.1 Human cancer cells undergoing TRAIL-induced cell death.

Selected publications

1. Annibaldi A, Walczak H. Death Receptors and Their Ligands in Inflammatory Disease and Cancer. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2020 Sep 1;12(9): a036384.
2. Peltzer N, Walczak H. Cell Death and Inflammation - A Vital but Dangerous Liaison. Trends Immunol. 2019 May;40(5): 387-402.
3. Lafont E, Draber P, Rieser E ... Walczak H. TBK1 and IKKε prevent TNF-induced cell death by RIPK1 phosphorylation. Nat Cell Biol. 2018 Dec;20(12): 1389-1399.
4. Taraborrelli L, Peltzer N, Montinaro A ... Walczak H. LUBAC prevents lethal dermatitis by inhibiting cell death induced by TNF, TRAIL and CD95L. Nat Commun. 2018 Sep 25;9(1): 3910.
5. Peltzer N, Darding M, Montinaro A ... Walczak H. LUBAC is essential for embryogenesis by preventing cell death and enabling haematopoiesis. Nature. 2018 May;557(7703): 112-117.
6. von Karstedt S, Montinaro A, Walczak H. Exploring the TRAILs less travelled: TRAIL in cancer biology and therapy. Nat Rev Cancer. 2017 May 24;17(6): 352-366.
7. von Karstedt S, Conti A, Nobis M ... Walczak H. Cancer cell-autonomous TRAIL-R signaling promotes KRAS-driven cancer progression, invasion, and metastasis. Cancer Cell. 2015 Apr 13;27(4): 561-73.

Professorship Awards 2019

In a human adult, billions of cells kill themselves off every day. Programmed cell death is a self-protective mechanism: it is triggered, for example, when cells are irreparably damaged. Normally, the body then produces new cells so that there is a balance between cell death and cell propagation. Disturbances in these mechanisms are thought to be a crucial factor in the development of cancer and autoimmune diseases. This is where the research of biochemist and cancer researcher Henning Walczak comes in.