Dittmer Lab

Area of Research

Despite intensive research worldwide, it has not yet been possible to develop vaccines against human pathogenic retroviruses such as HTLV and HIV. The classic methods of vaccine development against viruses have so far largely failed with retroviruses. Therefore, new approaches must be identified in order to be able to successfully produce vaccines against retroviruses. We use a mouse model, the infection of mice with the "Friend Murine Leukemia Virus" (FV), to elucidate the basic immunological mechanisms of vaccination protection against retroviruses. In addition, we are investigating which mediators of the immune system are important for controlling chronic retrovirus infections. The findings from these studies will be used to develop new immunotherapies and vaccines against HIV.

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Ulf Dittmer

Institute Director

Robert-Koch-Building, Room 3.24

Tel. 0201/723-3550

Fax 0201/723-6850

ulf.dittmer@uk-essen.de

Lab Members

Simone Schimmer

Technical Assistant

Robert-Koch-Building, Room 3.51-3.53 

Tel. 0201/723-3583

simone.schimmer@uk-essen.de

​Anna M.

​Dr. rer. nat. Anna Malyshkina

Postdoctoral Fellow

Robert-Koch-Building, Room 3.16

Tel. 0201/723-3062

anna.malyshkina@uk-essen.de

​Bayer Wibke 162x205

​​PD Dr. rer. nat. Wibke Bayer

Postdoctoral Fellow

Robert-Koch-Building

Tel.: 0201/723-83034

wibke.bayer@uk-essen.de

​Zelinsky Gennady 162x205

​​Dr. rer. nat. Gennadiy Zelinskyy

Postdoctoral Fellow

Robert-Koch-Building, Room 3.17

Tel.: 0201/723-3541

gennadiy.zelinskyy@uk-essen.de

Selected Publications

    2025

  • Du, Yanqin; Zhao, Mengxiao; Zeng, Xiaoqing; Wang, Shichuan; Wang, Qin; Chen, Liwei; Yang, Xuecheng; Feng, Xuemei; Lu, Mengji; Dittmer, Ulf; Sutter, Kathrin; Zheng, Xin; Yang, Dongliang; Xu, Chunli; Liu, Jia
    Regulatory T cells suppress TLR9-induced formation of intrahepatic myeloid-cell aggregates for T cell population expansion in liver
    In: Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Vol. 214, 2025, Nr. 1, 24
    DOI

    • 2024

  • Cherneha, Maxim; Zydek, Isabel; Braß, Peer; Korth, Johannes; Jansen, Sarah; Esser, Stefan; Karsten, Christina; Meyer, Folker; Kraiselburd, Ivana; Dittmer, Ulf; Lindemann, Monika; Horn, Peter; Witzke, Oliver; Thümmler, Laura; Krawczyk, Adalbert
    Immunogenicity of the Monovalent Omicron XBB.1.5-Adapted BNT162b2 COVID-19 Vaccine in People Living with HIV (PLWH)
    In: Vaccines, Vol. 12, 2024, Nr. 7, 785
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Mittermüller, Daniela; Otto, Lucas; Kilian, Annika Loredana; Schnormeier, Ann-Kathrin; Littwitz-Salomon, Elisabeth; Hasenberg, Anja; Dittmer, Ulf; Gunzer, Matthias
    PD-1 knockout on cytotoxic primary murine CD8+ T cells improves their motility in retrovirus infected mice
    In: Frontiers in Immunology, Vol. 15, 2024, 1338218
    DOI, Online Full Text (Open Access)
  • Albanese, Manuel; Chen, Hong-Ru; Gapp, Madeleine; Muenchhoff, Maximilian; Yang, Hsiu-Hui; Peterhoff, David; Hoffmann, Katja; Xiao, Qianhao; Ruhle, Adrian; Ambiel, Ina; Schneider, Stephanie; Mejías-Pérez, Ernesto; Stern, Marcel; Wratil, Paul R.; Hofmann, Katharina; Amann, Laura; Jocham, Linda; Fuchs, Thimo; Ulivi, Alessandro F.; Besson-Girard, Simon; Weidlich, Simon; Schneider, Jochen; Spinner, Christoph D.; Sutter, Kathrin; Dittmer, Ulf; Humpe, Andreas; Baumeister, Philipp; Wieser, Andreas; Rothenfusser, Simon; Bogner, Johannes; Roider, Julia; Knolle, Percy; Hengel, Hartmut; Wagner, Ralf; Laketa, Vibor; Fackler, Oliver T.; Keppler, Oliver T.
    Receptor transfer between immune cells by autoantibody-enhanced, CD32-driven trogocytosis is hijacked by HIV-1 to infect resting CD4 T cells
    In: Cell Reports Medicine, Vol. 5, 2024, Nr. 4, 101483
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Roesmann, Fabian; Sertznig, Helene; Klaassen, Katleen; Wilhelm, Alexander; Heininger, Delia; Heß, Stefanie; Elsner, Carina; Marschalek, Rolf; Santiago, Mario L.; Esser, Stefan; Sutter, Kathrin; Dittmer, Ulf; Widera, Marek
    The interferon-regulated host factor hnRNPA0 modulates HIV-1 production by interference with LTR activity, mRNA trafficking, and programmed ribosomal frameshifting
    In: Journal of Virology, Vol. 98, 2024, Nr. 7, e0053424
    DOI

    • 2023

  • Schimmer, Simone; Mittermüller, Daniela; Werner, Tanja; Görs, Paul E.; Meckelmann, Sven; Finlay, David K.; Dittmer, Ulf; Littwitz-Salomon, Elisabeth
    Fatty acids are crucial to fuel NK cells upon acute retrovirus infection
    In: Frontiers in Immunology, Vol. 14, 2023, 1296355
    DOI, Online Full Text (Open Access)
  • Mittermüller, Daniela; Otto, Lucas; Long, Zoë; Kraus, Andreas; Beer, Alexander; Hasenberg, Anja; Zelinskyy, Gennadiy; Westmeier, Jaana; Hasenkrug, Kim J.; Dittmer, Ulf; Gunzer, Matthias
    Regulatory T cells suppress the motility of cytotoxic T cells in Friend retrovirus-infected mice
    In: JCI Insight, Vol. 8, 2023, Nr. 13, e167482
    DOI, Online Full Text (Open Access)
  • Malyshkina, Anna; Bayer, Wibke; Podschwadt, Philip; Otto, Lucas; Karakoese, Zehra; Sutter, Kathrin; Bruderek, Kirsten; Wang, Baoxiao; Lavender, Kerry J.; Santiago, Mario L.; Leipe, Pia Madeleine; Elsner, Carina; Esser, Stefan; Brandau, Sven; Gunzer, Matthias; Dittmer, Ulf
    Immunotherapy-induced cytotoxic T follicular helper cells reduce numbers of retrovirus-infected reservoir cells in B cell follicles
    In: PLoS Pathogens, Vol. 19, 2023, Nr. 10, e1011725
    DOI (Open Access)

    • 2022

  • Rout, Saurav S.; Di, Yunyun; Dittmer, Ulf; Sutter, Kathrin; Lavender, Kerry J.
    Distinct effects of treatment with two different interferon-alpha subtypes on HIV-1-associated T-cell activation and dysfunction in humanized mice
    In: AIDS, Vol. 36, 2022, Nr. 3, pp. 325 – 336
    DOI
  • Sertznig, Helene; Roesmann, Fabian; Wilhelm, Alexander; Heininger, Delia; Bleekmann, Barbara; Elsner, Carina; Santiago, Mario; Schuhenn, Jonas; Karakoese, Zehra; Benatzy, Yvonne; Snodgrass, Ryan; Esser, Stefan; Sutter, Kathrin; Dittmer, Ulf; Widera, Marek
    SRSF1 acts as an IFN-I-regulated cellular dependency factor decisively affecting HIV-1 post-integration steps
    In: Frontiers in Immunology, Vol. 13, 2022, 935800
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Packard, Thomas A.; Schwarzer, Roland; Herzig, Eytan; Rao, Deepashri; Luo, Xiaoyu; Egedal, Johanne H.; Hsiao, Feng; Widera, Marek; Hultquist, Judd F.; Grimmett, Zachary W.; Messer, Ronald J.; Krogan, Nevan J.; Deeks, Steven G.; Roan, Nadia R.; Dittmer, Ulf; Hasenkrug, Kim J.; Greene, Warner C.
    CCL2 : a Chemokine Potentially Promoting Early Seeding of the Latent HIV Reservoir
    In: mBio, Vol. 13, 2022, Nr. 5, e0189122
    DOI, Online Full Text (Open Access)
  • David, Paul; Westmeier, Jaana; Drabczyk-Pluta, Malgorzata; Werner, Tanja; Ickler, Julia; Francois, Sandra; Bayer, Wibke; Sutter, Kathrin; Del Rio, Maria Luisa; Rodriguez-Barbosa, Jose-Ignacio; Dittmer, Ulf; Zelinskyy, Gennadiy
    The Role of the Inhibitory Ligand HVEM and Its Receptors CD160 and BTLA in the Regulation of Anti-retroviral T Cell Responses
    In: Frontiers in Virology, Vol. 2, 2022, 836291
    DOI, Online Full Text (Open Access)
  • Karakoese, Zehra; Schwerdtfeger, Mara; Karsten, Christina; Esser, Stefan; Dittmer, Ulf; Sutter, Kathrin
    Distinct Type I Interferon Subtypes Differentially Stimulate T Cell Responses in HIV-1-Infected Individuals
    In: Frontiers in Immunology, Vol. 13, 2022, 936918
    DOI, Online Full Text (Open Access)
  • Schwerdtfeger, Mara; Dickow, Julia; Schmitz, Yasmin; Francois, Sandra; Karakoese, Zehra; Malyshkina, Anna; Knuschke, Torben; Dittmer, Ulf; Sutter, Kathrin
    Immunotherapy With Interferon α11, But Not Interferon Beta, Controls Persistent Retroviral Infection
    In: Frontiers in Immunology, Vol. 12, 2022, 809774
    DOI, Online Full Text (Open Access)

    • 2021

  • Pušnik, Jernej; Fischinger, Stephanie; Dittmer, Ulf; Esser, Stefan; van Gils, Marit J.; Sanders, Rogier W.; Alter, Galit; Streeck, Hendrik
    Production of HIV-1 env-specific antibodies mediating innate immune functions depends on cognate interleukin-21-secreting CD4⁺T cells
    In: Journal of Virology, Vol. 95, 2021, Nr. 8, pp. e02097
    DOI, Online Full Text (Open Access)
  • Knuschke, Torben; Kollenda, Sebastian; Wenzek, Christina; Zelinskyy, Gennadiy; Steinbach, Philine; Dittmer, Ulf; Buer, Jan; Epple, Matthias; Westendorf, Astrid
    A combination of anti-pd-l1 treatment and therapeutic vaccination facilitates improved retroviral clearance via reactivation of highly exhausted t cells
    In: mBio, Vol. 12, 2021, Nr. 1, pp. e02121 – 20
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Littwitz-Salomon, Elisabeth; Moreira, Diana; Frost, Joe N.; Choi, Chloe; Liou, Kevin T.; Ahern, David K.; O’Shaughnessy, Simon; Wagner, Bernd; Biron, Christine A.; Drakesmith, Hal; Dittmer, Ulf; Finlay, David K.
    Metabolic requirements of NK cells during the acute response against retroviral infection
    In: Nature Communications, Vol. 12, 2021, Nr. 1, 5376
    DOI, Online Full Text (Open Access)

    • 2020

  • David, Paul; Drabczyk-Pluta, Malgorzata; Pastille, Eva; Knuschke, Torben; Werner, Tanja; Honke, Nadine; Megger, Dominik A.; Akhmetzyanova, Ilseyar; Shaabani, Namir; Eyking-Singer, Annette; Cario, Elke; Kershaw, Olivia; Gruber, Achim D.; Tenbusch, Matthias; Dietze, Kirsten; Trilling, Mirko; Liu, Jia; Schadendorf, Dirk; Streeck, Hendrik; Lang, Karl S.; Xie, Youhua; Zimmer, Lisa; Sitek, Barbara; Paschen, Annette; Westendorf, Astrid; Dittmer, Ulf; Zelinskyy, Gennadiy
    Combination immunotherapy with anti-PD-L1 antibody and depletion of regulatory T cells during acute viral infections results in improved virus control but lethal immunopathology
    In: PLoS Pathogens, Vol. 16, 2020, Nr. 3, e1008340
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Ross, Jean Alexander; Malyshkina, Anna; Otto, Lucas; Liu, Jia; Dittmer, Ulf
    Inhibition of IL-2 or NF-κB Subunit c-Rel-Dependent Signaling Inhibits Expansion of Regulatory T Cells During Acute Friend Retrovirus Infection
    In: Viral Immunology, Vol. 33, 2020, Nr. 5, pp. 353 – 360
    DOI
  • Guo, Kejun; Shen, Guannan; Kibbie, Jon; Gonzalez, Tania; Dillon, Stephanie M.; Smith, Harry A.; Cooper, Emily H.; Lavender, Kerry; Hasenkrug, Kim J.; Sutter, Kathrin; Dittmer, Ulf; Kroehl, Miranda; Kechris, Katerina; Wilson, Cara C.; Santiago, Mario L.
    Qualitative differences between the IFNα subtypes and IFNβ influence chronic mucosal HIV-1 pathogenesis
    In: PLoS Pathogens, Vol. 16, 2020, Nr. 10, pp. 1008986
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Zutz, Ariane; Schölz, Christian; Schneider, Stephanie; Pierini, Virginia; Münchhoff, Maximilian; Sutter, Kathrin; Wittmann, Georg; Dittmer, Ulf; Draenert, Rika; Bogner, Johannes R.; Fackler, Oliver T.; Keppler, Oliver T.
    SERINC5 Is an Unconventional HIV Restriction Factor That Is Upregulated during Myeloid Cell Differentiation
    In: Journal of Innate Immunity, Vol. 12, 2020, Nr. 5, pp. 399 – 409
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Ickler, Julia; Francois, Sandra; Widera, Marek; Santiago, Mario L.; Dittmer, Ulf; Sutter, Kathrin
    HIV infection does not alter interferon α/β receptor 2 expression on mucosal immune cells
    In: PLoS ONE, Vol. 15, 2020, Nr. 1, pp. e0218905
    DOI, Online Full Text (Open Access)

    • 2019

  • Sutter, Kathrin; Lavender, Kerry J.; Messer, Ronald J.; Widera, Marek; Williams, Katie; Race, Brent; Hasenkrug, Kim J.; Dittmer, Ulf
    Concurrent administration of IFNα14 and cART in TKO-BLT mice enhances suppression of HIV-1 viremia but does not eliminate the latent reservoir
    In: Scientific Reports, Vol. 9, 2019, pp. 18089
    DOI, Online Full Text (Open Access)
  • Passos, Vânia; Zillinger, Thomas; Casartelli, Nicoletta; Wachs, Amelie S.; Xu, Shuting; Malassa, Angelina; Steppich, Katja; Schilling, Hildegard; Franz, Sergej; Todt, Daniel; Steinmann, Eike; Sutter, Kathrin; Dittmer, Ulf; Bohne, Jens; Schwartz, Olivier; Barchet, Winfried; Goffinet, Christine
    Characterization of Endogenous SERINC5 Protein as Anti-HIV-1 Factor
    In: Journal of Virology, Vol. 93, 2019, Nr. 24, pp. e01221 – 19
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Dittmer, Ulf; Sutter, Kathrin; Kassiotis, George; Zelinskyy, Gennadiy; Bánki, Zoltán; Stoiber, Heribert; Santiago, Mario L.; Hasenkrug, Kim J.
    Friend retrovirus studies reveal complex interactions between intrinsic, innate and adaptive immunity
    In: FEMS Microbiology Reviews, Vol. 43, 2019, Nr. 5, pp. 435 – 456
    DOI, Online Full Text (Open Access)
  • Bongard, Nadine; Le-Trilling, Vu Thuy Khanh; Malyshkina, Anna; Rückborn, Meike; Wohlgemuth, Kerstin; Wensing, Ina; Windmann, Sonja; Dittmer, Ulf; Trilling, Mirko; Bayer, Wibke
    Immunization with a murine cytomegalovirus based vector encoding retrovirus envelope confers strong protection from Friend retrovirus challenge infection
    In: PLoS Pathogens, Vol. 15, 2019, Nr. 9, e1008043
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Hotter, Dominik; Bosso, Matteo; Jønsson, Kasper L.; Krapp, Christian; Stürzel, Christina M.; Das, Atze; Littwitz-Salomon, Elisabeth; Berkhout, Ben; Russ, Alina; Wittmann, Sabine; Gramberg, Thomas; Zheng, Yue; Martins, Laura J.; Planelles, Vicente; Jakobsen, Martin R.; Hahn, Beatrice H.; Dittmer, Ulf; Sauter, Daniel; Kirchhoff, Frank
    IFI16 Targets the Transcription Factor Sp1 to Suppress HIV-1 Transcription and Latency Reactivation
    In: Cell Host & Microbe, Vol. 25, 2019, Nr. 6, pp. 858 – 872.e13
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Braun, Elisabeth; Hotter, Dominik; Koepke, Lennart; Zech, Fabian; Groß, Rüdiger; Sparrer, Konstantin M.J.; Müller, Janis A.; Pfaller, Christian K.; Heusinger, Elena; Wombacher, Rebecka; Sutter, Kathrin; Dittmer, Ulf; Winkler, Michael; Simmons, Graham; Jakobsen, Martin R.; Conzelmann, Karl-Klaus; Pöhlmann, Stefan; Münch, Jan; Fackler, Oliver T.; Kirchhoff, Frank; Sauter, Daniel
    Guanylate-Binding Proteins 2 and 5 Exert Broad Antiviral Activity by Inhibiting Furin-Mediated Processing of Viral Envelope Proteins
    In: Cell Reports, Vol. 27, 2019, Nr. 7, pp. 2092 – 2104.e10
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Verheyen, Jens; Thielen, Alexander; Lübke, Nadine; Dirks, Miriam; Widera, Marek; Dittmer, Ulf; Kordelas, Lambros; Däumer, Martin; De Jong, Dorien C. M.; Wensing, Annemarie M. J.; Kaiser, Rolf; Nijhuis, Monique; Esser, Stefan
    Rapid rebound of a preexisting CXCR4-tropic human immunodeficiency virus variant after allogeneic transplantation with CCR5 Δ32 homozygous stem cells
    In: Clinical Infectious Diseases (CID), Vol. 68, 2019, Nr. 4, pp. 684 – 687
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Moore, Tyler C.; Messer, Ronald J.; Gonzaga, Lorena M.; Mather, Jennifer M.; Carmody, Aaron B.; Bayer, Wibke; Littwitz-Salomon, Elisabeth; Dittmer, Ulf; Hasenkrug, Kim J.
    Effects of Friend Virus Infection and Regulatory T Cells on the Antigen Presentation Function of B Cells
    In: mBio, Vol. 10, 2019, Nr. 1, pp. e02578 – 18
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Windmann, Sonja; Otto, Lucas; Hrycak, Camilla Patrizia; Malyshkina, Anna; Bongard, Nadine; David, Paul; Gunzer, Matthias; Dittmer, Ulf; Bayer, Wibke
    Infection of B Cell Follicle-Resident Cells by Friend Retrovirus Occurs during Acute Infection and Is Maintained during Viral Persistence
    In: mBio, Vol. 10, 2019, Nr. 1
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Malyshkina, Anna; Littwitz-Salomon, Elisabeth; Sutter, Kathrin; Ross, Jean Alexander; Paschen, Annette; Windmann, Sonja; Schimmer, Simone; Dittmer, Ulf
    Chronic retroviral infection of mice promotes tumor development, but CD137 agonist therapy restores effective tumor immune surveillance
    In: Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy, Vol. 68, 2019, Nr. 3, pp. 479 – 488
    DOI, Online Full Text (Open Access)
  • David, Paul; Megger, Dominik A.; Kaiser, Tamara; Werner, Tanja; Liu, Jia; Chen, Lieping; Sitek, Barbara; Dittmer, Ulf; Zelinskyy, Gennadiy
    The PD-1/PD-L1 Pathway Affects the Expansion and Function of Cytotoxic CD8⁺ T Cells During an Acute Retroviral Infection
    In: Frontiers in Immunology, Vol. 10, 2019, 54
    DOI (Open Access)

    • 2018

  • Littwitz-Salomon, Elisabeth; Nguyen, Thanh; Schimmer, Simone; Dittmer, Ulf
    Friend retrovirus infection induces the development of memory-like natural killer cells 11 Medical and Health Sciences 1107 Immunology
    In: Retrovirology, Vol. 15, 2018, Nr. 1, 68
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Malyshkina, Anna; Littwitz-Salomon, Elisabeth; Dittmer, Ulf; Schimmer, Simone
    The Cytotoxic Activity of Natural Killer Cells Is Suppressed by IL-10⁺ Regulatory T Cells During Acute Retroviral Infection
    In: Frontiers in Immunology, Vol. 9, 2018, pp. 1947
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Knuschke, Torben; Rotan, Olga; Bayer, Wibke; Kollenda, Sebastian; Dickow, Julia; Sutter, Kathrin; Hansen, Wiebke; Dittmer, Ulf; Lang, Karl S.; Epple, Matthias; Buer, Jan; Westendorf, Astrid
    Induction of Type I Interferons by Therapeutic Nanoparticle-Based Vaccination Is Indispensable to Reinforce Cytotoxic CD8+ T Cell Responses During Chronic Retroviral Infection
    In: Frontiers in Immunology, Vol. 9, 2018, 614
    DOI (Open Access)
  • Du, Keye; Liu, Jia; Bröring, Ruth; Zhang, Xiaoyong; Yang, Dongliang; Dittmer, Ulf; Lu, Mengji
    Recent advances in the discovery and development of TLR ligands as novel therapeutics for chronic HBV and HIV infections
    In: Expert Opinion on Drug Discovery, Vol. 13, 2018, Nr. 7, pp. 661 – 670
    DOI
  • Lavender, Kerry J.; Pace, Craig; Sutter, Kathrin; Messer, Ronald J.; Pouncey, Dakota L.; Cummins, Nathan W.; Natesampillai, Sekar; Zheng, Jim; Goldsmith, Joshua; Widera, Marek; Van Dis, Erik S.; Phillips, Katie; Race, Brent; Dittmer, Ulf; Kukolj, George; Hasenkrug, Kim J.
    An advanced BLT-humanized mouse model for extended HIV-1 cure studies
    In: AIDS, Vol. 32, 2018, Nr. 1, pp. 1 – 10
    DOI, Online Full Text (Open Access)
  • Wang, Hongye; Yuan, Ting; Li, Tingting; Li, Yanpeng; Qian, Feng; Zhu, Chuanwu; Liang, Shujia; Hoffmann, Daniel; Dittmer, Ulf; Sun, Binlian; Yang, Rongge
    Evaluation of susceptibility of HIV-1 CRF01_AE variants to neutralization by a panel of broadly neutralizing antibodies
    In: Archives of Virology, Vol. 163, 2018, Nr. 12, pp. 3303 – 3315
    DOI
  • Sutter, Kathrin; Dickow, Julia; Dittmer, Ulf
    Interferon α subtypes in HIV infection
    In: Cytokine & Growth Factor Reviews, Vol. 40, 2018, pp. 13 – 18
    DOI
  • Chougnet, Claire A.; Hasenkrug, Kim J.; Hobman, Tom C.; Dittmer, Ulf
    Regulatory T cells in retroviral infections
    In: PLoS Pathogens, Vol. 14, 2018, Nr. 2, pp. e1006776
    DOI (Open Access)