University of Giessen Lung Center

Research Overview

In Europe, respiratory diseases rank second to cardiovascular diseases in terms of mortality, incidence, prevalence and cost. In addition, there is still an unmet medical need for most of the respiratory diseases and a lack of translational medicine aiming a fast transfer of knowledge from preclinical studies and basic science into clinical trials. We successfully performed preclinical and clinical studies in pulmonary vascular diseases addressing the efficacy of nebulized prostanoids and oral phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors, which led to the development of Iloprost (Ilomedin®, originally approved for peripheral arterial occlusion disease) to Ventavis® and sildenafil (Viagra®, originally approved for erectile dysfunction) to Revatio®. We further extended this goal orientated development strategy to the tyrosine kinase inhibitor imatinib (Glivec®, originally approved for chronic myelomic leukemia) showing to reverse experimental pulmonary hypertension. In a translational approach, clinical trials are now underway investigating the safety and efficacy of imatinib in pulmonary diseases. In this context, my working group is engaged in basic research and preclinical development of new targets in several cardiopulmonary diseases, like pulmonary hypertension, lung fibrosis, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart failure. We focussed on the nitric oxide system, prostacyclin signaling, phosphodiesterases and tyrosine kinases. The ultimate goal is a “reverse remodeling” of structural and functional changes in cardiopulmonary diseases.