Header Forschung

Department of Visceral, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery

Head: Jürgen Weitz

PIs: Christoph Kahlert, Adrian Seifert, Lena Seifert, Daniel E. Stange

The Department of Visceral, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery at the University Hospital Dresden focusses on the surgical treatment of malignant diseases using open, minimally-invasive and robotic techniques. The clinical research covers many surgical and multimodal aspects of surgical oncology. Integration of robotics, navigation and virtual reality in surgical treatment of malignant diseases is a major focus of our clinical research. The translational research is focused on molecular and translational cancer research with the main interest on gastrointestinal, hepatobiliary and lung cancers.

The surgical translational research laboratory hosts the following groups:

  • The group of Christoph Kahlert performs research on exosomes for early detection of pancreatic cancers and their use in predicting the course of the disease.
  • The Seifert group focuses on new immuno-therapeutic approaches and the mechanisms of tumor-immune system interaction in gastro-intestinal tumors, specifically on the role of gamma-delta T-cells and the PD-1/PD-L1 axis.
  • The group of Daniel Stange uses 3D cancer models, so called tumor organoids, from mouse models and primary patient material to characterize therapy response in molecular subgroups of gastrointestinal cancers.

Own recent publications

1: Seifert AM, Reiche C, Heiduk M, Tannert A, Meinecke AC, Baier S, von Renesse J, Kahlert C, Distler M, Welsch T, Reissfelder C, Aust DE, Miller G, Weitz J, Seifert L. Detection of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma with galectin-9 serum levels. Oncogene. 2020 Apr;39(15):3102-3113. doi: 10.1038/s41388-020-1186-7. Epub 2020 Feb 13. PMID: 32055023; PMCID: PMC7142017.

2: Seifert AM, List J, Heiduk M, Decker R, von Renesse J, Meinecke AC, Aust DE, Welsch T, Weitz J, Seifert L. Gamma-delta T cells stimulate IL-6 production by pancreatic stellate cells in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2020 Dec;146(12):3233-3240. doi: 10.1007/s00432-020-03367-8. Epub 2020 Aug 31. PMID: 32865617; PMCID: PMC7679341.

3: Seifert AM, Eymer A, Heiduk M, Wehner R, Tunger A, von Renesse J, Decker R, Aust DE, Welsch T, Reissfelder C, Weitz J, Schmitz M, Seifert L. PD-1 Expression by Lymph Node and Intratumoral Regulatory T Cells Is Associated with Lymph Node Metastasis in Pancreatic Cancer. Cancers (Basel). 2020 Sep 24;12(10):2756. doi: 10.3390/cancers12102756. PMID: 32987956; PMCID: PMC7599971.

4: Seidlitz T, Koo BK, Stange DE. Gastric organoids-an in vitro model system for the study of gastric development and road to personalized medicine. Cell Death Differ. 2021 Jan;28(1):68-83. doi: 10.1038/s41418-020-00662-2. Epub 2020 Nov 22. PMID: 33223522.

5: Dantes Z, Yen HY, Pfarr N, Winter C, Steiger K, Muckenhuber A, Hennig A, Lange S, Engleitner T, Öllinger R, Maresch R, Orben F, Heid I, Kaissis G, Shi K, Topping G, Stögbauer F, Wirth M, Peschke K, Papargyriou A, Rezaee-Oghazi M, Feldmann K, Schäfer AP, Ranjan R, Lubeseder-Martellato C, Stange DE, Welsch T, Martignoni M, Ceyhan GO, Friess H, Herner A, Liotta L, Treiber M, von Figura G, Abdelhafez M, Klare P, Schlag C, Algül H, Siveke J, Braren R, Weirich G, Weichert W, Saur D, Rad R, Schmid RM, Schneider G, Reichert M. Implementing cell-free DNA of pancreatic cancer patient-derived organoids for personalized oncology. JCI Insight. 2020 Aug 6;5(15):e137809. doi:
10.1172/jci.insight.137809. PMID: 32614802; PMCID: PMC7455062.

6: Smyth EC, Vlachogiannis G, Hedayat S, Harbery A, Hulkki-Wilson S, Salati M, Kouvelakis K, Fernandez-Mateos J, Cresswell GD, Fontana E, Seidlitz T, Peckitt C, Hahne JC, Lampis A, Begum R, Watkins D, Rao S, Starling N, Waddell T, Okines A, Crosby T, Mansoor W, Wadsley J, Middleton G, Fassan M, Wotherspoon A, Braconi C, Chau I, Vivanco I, Sottoriva A, Stange DE, Cunningham D, Valeri N. EGFR amplification and outcome in a randomised phase III trial of chemotherapy alone
or chemotherapy plus panitumumab for advanced gastro-oesophageal cancers. Gut. 2020 Nov 16:gutjnl-2020-322658. doi: 10.1136/gutjnl-2020-322658. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33199443.

7: Gaebler AM, Hennig A, Buczolich K, Weitz J, Welsch T, Stange DE, Pape K. Universal and Efficient Electroporation Protocol for Genetic Engineering of Gastrointestinal Organoids. J Vis Exp. 2020 Feb 18;(156). doi: 10.3791/60704. PMID: 32150173.

8: Hempel S, Oehme F, Müssle B, Aust DE, Distler M, Saeger HD, Weitz J, Welsch T. Prognostic impact of para-aortic lymph node metastases in non-pancreatic periampullary cancer. World J Surg Oncol. 2020 Jan 21;18(1):16. doi: 10.1186/s12957-020-1783-5. PMID: 31964383; PMCID: PMC6975057.

9: Müssle B, Buck N, Schade S, Sommer M, Oehme F, Bogner A, Hempel S, Radosa C, Kahlert C, Distler M, Weitz J, Welsch T. Impact of pulmonary embolism on morbidity and mortality in patients undergoing pancreatic surgery. Langenbecks Arch Surg. 2020 Oct 9. doi: 10.1007/s00423-020-02009-4. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33037463.

10: Wolk S, Radosa CG, Distler M, Held HC, Kühn JP, Weitz J, Welsch T, Hoffmann RT. Risk Factors for In-hospital Mortality After Transarterial Intervention After Postpancreatectomy Hemorrhage. Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol. 2020 Sep;43(9):1342-1352. doi: 10.1007/s00270-020-02509-2. Epub 2020 May 20. PMID: 32435837; PMCID: PMC7441056.

11: Willner A, Bogner A, Müssle B, Teske C, Hempel S, Kahlert C, Distler M, Weitz J, Welsch T. Disease duration before surgical resection for chronic pancreatitis impacts long-term outcome. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020 Oct 30;99(44):e22896. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000022896. PMID: 33126342; PMCID: PMC7598864.

12: Pochhammer J, Scholtes B, Keuler J, Müssle B, Welsch T, Schäffer M. Serum C-reactive protein level after ventral hernia repair with mesh reinforcement can predict infectious complications: a retrospective cohort study. Hernia. 2020 Feb;24(1):41-48. doi: 10.1007/s10029-018-1844-7. Epub 2018 Nov 7. PMID: 30406322.

13: Engel C, Ahadova A, Seppälä TT, Aretz S, Bigirwamungu-Bargeman M, Bläker H, Bucksch K, Büttner R, de Vos Tot Nederveen Cappel WT, Endris V, Holinski-Feder E, Holzapfel S, Hüneburg R, Jacobs MAJM, Koornstra JJ, Langers AM, Lepistö A, Morak M, Möslein G, Peltomäki P, Pylvänäinen K, Rahner N, Renkonen-Sinisalo L, Schulmann K, Steinke-Lange V, Stenzinger A, Strassburg CP, van de Meeberg PC, van Kouwen M, van Leerdam M, Vangala DB, Vecht J, Verhulst ML, von Knebel Doeberitz M, Weitz J, Zachariae S, Loeffler M, Mecklin JP, Kloor M, Vasen HF; German HNPCC Consortium, the Dutch Lynch Syndrome Collaborative Group; Finnish Lynch Syndrome Registry. Associations of Pathogenic Variants in MLH1, MSH2, and MSH6 With Risk of Colorectal Adenomas and Tumors and With Somatic Mutations in Patients With Lynch Syndrome. Gastroenterology. 2020 Apr;158(5):1326-1333. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2019.12.032. Epub 2020 Jan 8. PMID: 31926173.

14: Kernebeck S, Busse TS, Böttcher MD, Weitz J, Ehlers J, Bork U. Impact of mobile health and medical applications on clinical practice in gastroenterology. World J Gastroenterol. 2020 Aug 7;26(29):4182-4197. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v26.i29.4182. PMID: 32848328; PMCID: PMC7422538.

15: Hau HM, Weitz J, Bork U. Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Student and Resident Teaching and Training in Surgical Oncology. J Clin Med. 2020 Oct 26;9(11):3431. doi: 10.3390/jcm9113431. PMID: 33114552; PMCID: PMC7692303.

16: von Bechtolsheim F, Distler M, Weitz J, Radulova-Mauersberger O. Die roboterassistierte minimalinvasive D2-Lymphadenektomie [Robot-Assisted Minimally Invasive D2 Lymphadenectomy]. Zentralbl Chir. 2020 Jun 29. German. doi: 10.1055/a-1157-9708. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 32599637.