New thesis increases knowledge about how our immune cells behave in age-related cancer
Jinghua Wu from the Center for Infectious Medicine (CIM), at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH) defends her thesis titled "Functional studies of pathogen-specific T cell responses in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia", on 5 December, 2025. Main supervisor is Marcus Buggert (MedH).
What is the main focus of your thesis?
Understanding whether T cells can mount effective responses to pathogens in the most common adult leukemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients, whose disease is in remission after targeted therapy.
Which are the most important results?
Patients with CLL continue to have an immune system that does not fully recover, even after modern targeted treatments successfully control the cancer. Their helper and killer T cells lose some of their strength and flexibility, making it harder to fight infections.
How can this new knowledge contribute to the improvement of people’s health?
This knowledge helps us understand how our immune cells behave in an age-related cancer like CLL, not only in fighting infections, but also in improving future immune-based cancer treatments such as CAR-T therapy. By learning how T cells function and recover, we can make treatments smarter and more effective.
What are your future ambitions?
I look forward to continuing to explore how our immune system can be harnessed to fight diseases and to turn scientific discoveries into real benefits for patients.
Dissertation
Friday, 5 December, at 09:30, Lecture hall 4X, Alfred Nobels allé 8, level 4, Flemingsberg.