CATCH ALL research receives Abstract Achievement Awards at ASH 2025
Research from the CATCH ALL Clinical Research Unit (KFO 5010) from the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel, was honored with Abstract Achievement Awards at the 67th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2025.
The ASH Annual Meeting, one of the world’s leading conferences in hematology, took place from December 6 to 9, 2025, in Orlando, USA and brought together clinicians and researchers from across the globe.
One of the awarded oral abstracts was presented by Sonja Bendig (P3, PIs Prof. Monika Brüggemann and Dr. Guranda Chitadze) and provides new insights into mechanisms of resistance to Blinatumomab in adult B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). By combining high-dimensional spectral flow cytometry with single-cell RNA sequencing, the study demonstrates that baseline T-cell fitness is a critical factor for effective immune-mediated B-cell clearance during CD3-engaging therapy.
Patients who responded well to treatment and cleared B cells showed a higher proportion of naïve T-cell subsets at baseline. In contrast, B-cell persistence was associated with T-cell differentiation, senescence, and exhaustion. Furthermore, CD19 loss as a resistance mechanism was observed only in KMT2A- and DUX4-rearranged B-ALL, indicating immune pressure-driven antigen escape in specific molecular subtypes.
In addition, CATCH ALL Associate Researcher Dr. Sophie Steinhäuser also received an Abstract Achievement Award. She and her colleague Prof. Simone Lipinski´s work identified a previously unknown inflammatory vulnerability of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with mutation in the IDH1 gene, which involves the leukemic microenvironment.
Through integrated analysis of clinical, transcriptomic, epigenetic and cellular data, they identified reduced expression of interleukin-1 receptor 1 (IL1R1), driven by IDH1 mutation-specific DNA hypermethylation. Reduced IL1R1 not only translates to remodeling of pro-inflammatory signaling but also selective induction of apoptosis in IDH1-mutated AML cells, which translates to improved overall survival and higher complete remission in the clinic.
Both findings highlight the importance of immune competence and inflammatory regulation in leukemia biology and treatment response and support the integration of immune competence- and microenvironment-informed biomarkers to improve risk stratification and guide therapeutic decision-making.
We congratulate Sonja Bendig and Sophie Steinhäuser, as well as the entire collaborative team, on this recognition.
