Thomas Reinheckel

Thomas Reinheckel (Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Germany)

Resume: Thomas Reinheckel received his MD in 1997 after medical training at the Universities in Magdeburg and Berlin in Germany as well as at the Albert-Einstein Medical College, N.Y., USA. Broad pre- and postdoctoral training at the Albany Medical College, Albany, N.Y. and the UCSF Cancer Center, San Francisco focused his interest in biochemistry and tumor biology. Since 2002 Dr Reinheckel heads the “Protease Group” at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Cell Research at the Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg, Germany. He obtained full professorship from the University of Freiburg in 2013. His work is focused on elucidating in vivo functions of endosomal/lysosomal cysteine and aspartic proteases in mouse models concerning tumor biology, innate immunity, and cardiac diseases.

Genetic analysis of lysosomal proteases in mouse models of human cancers

Lysosomal cathepsins are proteolytic enzymes increasingly recognized as prognostic markers and potential therapeutic targets in a variety of cancers. However, the functions of individual cathepsins in tumor biology remained unknown for long time. Our recent data indicate a critical role of cathepsins in growth, invasion, and metastasis of tumors by loss- and gain-of-function studies on individual cathepsins in transgenic mouse models of human cancers, such as breast cancers induced by the polyoma middle T (PyMT) oncogene and skin cancers induced by the E6/E7 oncogenes of HPV16. The talk will focus on the tumor promoting activity of macrophage- and cancer cell-derived cathepsin B. The implications of these findings for therapeutic strategies targeting cathepsin inhibition will be discussed.