Klinik und Poliklinik
für Innere Medizin II
Klinik und Poliklinik für Innere Medizin II
Direktor: Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Roland. M. Schmid
direktion.med2@mri.tum.de

PD Dr. rer. nat. Jennifer E. Altomonte

 

PD Dr. rer. nat.

Jennifer E. Altomonte

Principle Investigator

 

jennifer.altomonte@tum.de

Education and employment

since 2016
Research Group Leader, Department of Internal Medicine II, Director Prof. Roland M. Schmid, Klinikum rechts der Isar der TU München

 

2017
Habilitation (Specialization: Molecular biology/Virology); Department of Internal Medicine II, Klinikum rechts der Isar der TU München (Director: Prof. Roland Schmid)

 

2011 – 2015

Postdoc, Department of Internal Medicine II, Director Prof. Roland M. Schmid, laboratory of PD Dr. med. Oliver Ebert, Klinikum rechts der Isar der TU München

 

2006 – 2011
Doctorate, Department of Internal Medicine II, Director Prof. Roland M. Schmid, laboratory of PD Dr. med. Oliver Ebert, Klinikum rechts der Isar der TU München

 

2003 – 2005
Master of Science in Forensic Science; City University of New York at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, NY, USA (Thesis work at Institute of Genetics, Helmholtz Zentrum München; Supervisor: Dr. Arne Pfeufer; 2009)

 

1999 – 2006

Research Coordinator at the Institute for Gene and Cell Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NY, USA (Prof. Savio Woo)

 

1994 – 1999
Bachelor of Science, Major: Microbiology; Minor: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Pennsylvania State University, PA, USA

Memberships

  • American Society for Microbiology (ASM)
  • American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT)
  • Deutscher Hochschulverband

Scientific focus

  • Viral engineering and development of improved oncolytic viral therapies
  • Translational immunotherapeutics for hepatocellular carcinoma and pancreatic cancer
  • Development of strategies for tumor targeting, circumventing host inflammatory responses and barriers of tumor microenvironment
  • Elucidation of immune responses to oncolytic viruses
  • Multimodal functional imaging for non-invasive therapy response monitoring

Patents

  1. "New recombinant oncolytic virus for treating cancer, e.g. brain cancer comprises an oncolytic virus or a recombinant variant of an oncolytic virus and a heterologous nucleic acid sequence"; Inventors: Savio LC. Woo, Oliver Ebert, Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, Jennifer Altomonte; Pub. No.: A61K 48/00; International Application No.: PCT/US2007/088630; Publication Date: 20.11.2008.
  2. "New virus useful for treating fibrosis including liver fibrosis or pulmonary fibrosis, and inducing apoptosis of collagen-producing fibroblasts or collagen-producing fibroblast-like cells e.g. activated hepatic stellate cells"; Inventors: Oliver Ebert, Jennifer Altomonte; Pub. No.: WO2012/045473 A1; International Application No.: PCT/EP2011/005030; Publication Date: 12.04.2012.
  3. "VSV/NDV hybrid virus for oncolytic therapy of cancer"; Inventors: Jennifer Altomonte and Oliver Ebert. Pub. No.: WO2017/198779 A1; International Application No.: PCT/EP2017/062007; Publication Date: 18.05.2017

Funding

  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB824 Project C7)
  • Deutsche Krebshilfe
  • European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant (ONCO-VAX)
  • M4 Award

Publications

  1. Melzer MK, Zeitlinger L, Mall S, Steiger K, Schmid RM, Ebert O, Krackhardt A, and Altomonte J. (2018) Enhanced safety and efficacy of oncolytic VSV therapy by combination with T cell receptor transgenic T cells as carriers. Mol Ther Oncolytics, 12:26-40.
  2. Abdullahi S, Jäkel M, Behrend SJ, Steiger K, Topping G, Krabbe T, Colombo A, Sandig V, Schiergens TS, Thasler WE, Werner J, Lichtenthaler SF, Schmid RM, Ebert O, and Altomonte J. (2018) A novel chimeric oncolytic virus vector for improved safety and efficacy in hepatocellular carcinoma. J Virol, 92(23).
  3. Krabbe T and Altomonte J. (2018) Fusogenic viruses in oncolytic immunotherapy. Cancers, 10(7).
  4. Altomonte J. (2018) Liver cancer: Sensitizing hepatocellular carcinoma to oncolytic virus therapy. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Heptatol, 15(1):8-10.
  5. Melzer MK, Lopez-Martinez A, Altomonte J. (2017) Oncolytic vesicular stomatitis virus as a viro-immunotherapy: defeating cancer with a "hammer" and "anvil". Biomedicines 5(1), 8.
  6. Altomonte J, Muñoz-Alvarez K, Shinozaki K, Baumgartner C, Kaissis G, Braren R, and Ebert O. (2016) Transarterial administration of oncolytic viruses for locoregional therapy of orthotopic HCC in rats. JoVE (110).
  7. Groß C, Steiger K, Sayyed S, Heid I, Feuchtinger A, Walch A, Heß J, Unger K, Zitzelsberger HF, Settles M, Schlitter AM, Dworniczak J, Altomonte J, Ebert O, Schwaiger M, Rummeny EJ, Steingötter A, Esposito I, Braren R. (2015) Model matters: differences in orthotopic rat hepatocellular carcinoma physiology determine therapy response to sorafenib. Clin Cancer Res, 21(19):4440-50.
  8. Marozin S, Altomonte J, Muñoz-Álvarez KA, De Toni EN, Thasler WE, Schmid RM, Ebert O. (2015) STAT3 inhibition reduces toxicity of oncolytic VSV and provides a potentially synergistic combination therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma. Cancer Gene Ther, 22(6):317-25.
  9. Almstätter I, Mykhaylyk O, Settles M, Altomonte J, Aichler M, Walch A, Rummeny EJ, Ebert O, Plank C, Braren R. (2015) Characterization of magnetic viral complexes for targeted delivery in oncology. Theranostics, 5(7):667-85.
  10. Muñoz-Álvarez KA, Altomonte J, Laitinen I, Ziegler S, Steiger K, Esposito I, Schmid RM, Ebert O. (2015) PET imgaging of oncolytic VSV expressing the mutant HSV-1 thymidine kinase transgene in a preclinical HCC rat model. Mol Ther, 23(4):728-36.
  11. Altomonte J and Ebert O. (2014) Sorting out Pandora's box: discerning the dynamic roles of liver microenvironment in oncolytic virus therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma. Frontiers in Immunol, 4:85.
  12. Altomonte J, Marozin S, DeToni EN, Rizzani A, Esposito I, Steiger K, Feuchtinger A, Hellerbrand C, Schmid RM, Ebert O. (2013) Antifibrotic properties of transarterial oncolytic VSV therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma in rats with thioacetamide-induced liver fibrosis. Mol Ther, 21(11):2032-42.
  13. Marozin, S., Altomonte, J., Apfel, S., Dinh, PX., De Toni, EN., Rizzani, A., Nüssler, A., Kato, N., Schmid, RM., Pattnaik, AK., Ebert, O. (2012) Posttranslational modification of vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein, but not JNK inhibition, is the antiviral mechanism of SP600125. J Virol, 86(9):4844-55.
  14. Altomonte, J., Ebert, O. (2012) Replicating vectors for cancer therapy: strategies to synergize with host immune responses. Microb Biotechnol, 5(2):251-9.
  15. Braren, R., Curcic, J., Remmele, S., Altomonte, J., Ebert, O., Rummeny, EJ., Steingoetter, A. (2011) Free-Breathing quantitative dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging in a rat liver tumor model using dynamic radial T(1) mapping. Invest Radiol, 46(10):624-31.
  16. Braren, R., Altomonte, J., Settles, M, Neff F, Esposito I, Ebert O, Schwaiger M, Rummeny E, Steingoetter A. (2011) Validation of preclinical multiparametric imaging for prediction of necrosis in hepatocellular carcinoma after embolization. Journal of Hepatology, 55(5):1034-40.
  17. Marozin, S., De Toni, EN., Rizzani, A., Altomonte, J., Junger, A., Schneider, G., Thasler, WE., Kato, N., Schmid, RM., Ebert, O. (2010) Cell cycle progression or translational control is not essential for vesicular stomatitis virus oncolysis of hepatocellular carcinoma. PLoS One, 5(6):e10988.
  18. Altomonte, J., Marozin, S., Schmid, RM, and Ebert, O. (2010). Engineered Newcastle Disease Virus as an improved oncolytic agent against hepatocellular carcinoma. Mol Ther. 18(2):275-84.
  19. Altomonte, J., Wu, L., Meseck, M., Ebert, O., Garcia-Sastre, A., Fallon, J., and Woo, SL. (2009) Enhanced oncolytic potency of vesicular stomatitis virus via vector-mediated inhibition of NK and NKT cells. Cancer Gene Ther, 16(3):266-78.
  20. Hüser, N., Doll, D., Altomonte, J., Werner, M., Kriner, M., Preissel, A., Thorban, S., and Matevossian, E. (2009) Graft preconditioning with low-dose tacrolimus (FK506) and nitric oxide inhibitor aminoguanidine (AGH) reduces ischemia/reperfusion injury after liver transplantation in the rat. Arch Parm Res, 32(2):215-20.
  21. Herrmann, K., Takei, T., Kanegae, K., Shiga, T., Buck, AK, Altomonte, J., Schwaiger, M., Schuster, T., Nishijima, K., Kuge, Y., Tamaki, N. (2009) Clinical value and limitations of [11C]-methionine PET for detection and localization of suspected parathyroid adenomas. Mol Imaging Biol, 11(5):356-63.
  22. Matevossian E, Kern H, Hüser N, Doll D, Snopok Y, Nährig J, Altomonte J, Sinicina I, Friess H, Thorban S. (2009) Surgeon Yurii Voronoy (1895- 1961) – a pioneer in the history of clinical transplantation: in memoriam at the 75th anniversary of the first human kidney transplantation. Transpl Int, 22(12)1132-9. (OA)
  23. Marozin, S., Altomonte, J., Stadler, F., Thasler, WE, Schmid, RM, and Ebert, O. (2008). Inhibition of the IFN-b response in hepatocellular carcinoma by alternative spliced isoform of IFN regulatory factor 3. Mol Ther, 16(11):1789-97.
  24. Altomonte, J., Braren, R., Schulz, S., Marozin, M., Rummeny, EJ, Schmid, RM, and Ebert, O. (2008) Synergystic antitumor effects of transarterial viroembolization for multifocal hepatocellular carcinoma in rats. Hepatology, 48(6):1864-73.
  25. Wu, L., Huang, TG, Meseck, M., Altomonte, J., Ebert, O., Shinosaki, K., Garcia-Sastre, A., Fallon, J., Mandeli, J., and Woo, SL. (2008). rVSV(MD51)-M3 is an effective and safe oncolytic virus for cancer therapy. Hum Gene Ther. 19(6):635-47.
  26. Altomonte, J., Wu, L., Chen, L., Meseck, M., Ebert, O., Garcia-Sastre, A., Fallon, J., and Woo, SL. (2008). Exponential enhancement of oncolytic Vesicular stomatitis virus potency by vector-mediated suppression of inflammatory responses in vivo. Mol Ther. 16(1):146-53.
  27. Morral. N., Edenberg, H., Witting, SR., Altomonte, J., Chu, T., and Brown, M. (2007). Effects of glucose metabolism on the regulation of genes of fatty acid synthesis and triglyceride secretion in the liver. J Lipid Res. 48(7)1499-510.
  28. Qu, S., Su, D., Altomonte, J., Kamagate, A., He, J., Perdomo, G., Tse, T., Jiang, Y., and Dong, H. (2007) PPARalpha mediates the hypolipidemic action of fibrates by antagonizing FoxO1. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 292(2):E421-34.
  29. Qu, S., Altomonte, J., Perdomo, G., He, J., Fan, Y., Kamagate, A., Meseck, M., and Dong, H. (2006). Aberrant Forkhead box 01 function is associated with impaired hepatic metabolism. Endocrinology . 147(12):5641-52.
  30. Dong, H., Maddux, B.A., Altomonte, J., Meseck, M., Accili, D., Terkeltaub, R., Johnson, K., Youngren, J.F., and Goldfine, I.D. (2005). Increased hepatic levels of the insulin receptor inhibitor, PC-1/NPP1, induce insulin resistance and glucose intolerance. Diabetes. 54(2):367-72.
  31. Zhang, N., Richter, A., Suriawinata, J., Harbaran, S., Altomonte, J., Cong, L., Zhang, H., Song, K., Meseck, M., Bromberg, J., and Dong, H. (2004). Elevated vascular endothelial growth factor production in islets improves islet graft vascularization. Diabetes. 53(4)963-70.
  32. Altomonte, J., Cong, L., Harbaran, S., Richter, A., Xu, J., Meseck, M., and Dong, H. (2004). Foxo1 mediates insulin action on apoC-III and triglyceride metabolism. J Clin Invest. 114(10):1493-503.
  33. Puigserver, P., Rhee, J., Donovan, J., Yoon, J.C., Walkey, C.J., Oriente, F., Kitamura, Y., Altomonte, J., Dong, H., Accili, D., and Spiegelman, B.M. (2003). Insulin-Regulated Hepatic Gluconeogenesis Through FOXO1-PGC1alpha Interaction. Nature. 423(6939):550-5.
  34. Altomonte, J., Richter, A., Harbaran, S., Nakae, J., Meseck, M., Accili, D., and Dong, H. (2003). Inhibition of Foxo1 Function is Associated with Improved Fasting Glycemia in Diabetic Mice. American Journal of Physiology, Endocrinology, and Metabolism. 285(4):E718-28.
  35. Altomonte, J., Harbaran, S., Richter, A., and Dong, H. (2003). Fat Depot-Specific Expression of Adiponectin is Impaired in Zucker Fatty Rats. Metabolism. Aug;52(8):958-63.
  36. Hofmann, S., Dong, H., Li, Z., Cai, W., Altomonte, J., Thung, S.N., Zeng, F., Fisher, E.D., and Vlassara, H. (2002). Improved Insulin Sensitivity is Associated With Restricted Intake of Dietary Glycoxidation Products in the db/db Mouse. Diabetes. 51, 2082-2089.
  37. Morral, N., McEvoy, R., Dong, H., Meseck, M., Altomonte, J., Thung, S., and Woo, S.L.C. (2002). Adenovirus-Mediated Expression of Glucokinase in the Liver as an Adjuvant Treatment for Type 1 Diabetes. Human Gene Therapy. 13, 1561-1570.
  38. Dong, H., Altomonte, J., Morral, N., Meseck, M., Thung, S.N. and Woo, S.L.C. (2002). Basal Insulin Gene Expression Significantly Improves Conventional Insulin Therapy in Type 1 Diabetes. Diabetes. 51, 130-139.

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