Clemens Wülfing

• Dr. med. Dipl.-Biol.
• Hamburg University

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2), causing human coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), not only affects the respiratory tract, but also impacts other organs including the brain. A considerable number of COVID-19 patients develop neuropsychiatric symptoms that may linger for weeks and months and contribute to “long...

Secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) in saliva is the most important immunoglobulin fighting pathogens in the respiratory tract and may thus play a role in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infections. To gain a better understanding of the plasticity in the mucosal antibody, we investigated the proactive change in secretion of salivary SARS-CoV-2-specific sIgA in...

With growing molecular evidence for correlations between spatial arrangement of blood vasculature and fundamental immunological functions, carried out in distinct compartments of the subdivided lymph node, there is an urgent need for three-dimensional models that can link these aspects. We reconstructed such models at a 1.84 µm resolution by the me...

The behavioral immune system (BIS) comprises manifold mechanisms, that may assist the physiological immune system (PIS) in counteracting infection and can even reduce the risk of contagion. Previous studies have found initial evidence for possible interactions between the two systems. However, most of these findings were correlative and have not be...

Mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR)-signaling is one key driver of glioblastoma (GBM), facilitating tumor growth by promoting the shift to an anti-inflammatory, pro-cancerogenic microenvironment. Even though mTOR inhibitors such as rapamycin (RAPA) have been shown to interfere with GBM disease progression, frequently chaperoned toxic drug side e...

We confirmed the presence of wired antigen presenting cells (wAPC) in lymph nodes [1,2]. →We were able to identify Schwann cells in the hilum, medullary and capsule region of the lymph node (I). →We found oligodendrocyte-like cells in the lymph node regions mentioned above regions, myelinating more than one axon (II). →GFAP positive signals could b...

Recently, we found many immune cells including antigen presenting cells neurally hard wired in the T-cell zone of most lymphoid organs like amongst others, lymph nodes in rats, mice and humans. Single immune cells were reached by single neurites and enclosed with a dense neural meshwork. As it is well known that axons are always accompanied by glia...

Here we present a new type of innervation of the immune system, where we identified single immune cells that were reached by neurites and enclosed the immune cell body in a characteristic and very close manner. We termed these innervated immune cells as a whole "neurally hard-wired" immune cells (wIC) and in the case of antigen presenting capacity...

Introduction Recently, we found abundant innervation of antigen presenting cells that were reached and enclosed by single neurites. These neurally hard‐wired antigen presenting cells (wAPC) could be observed in the T‐cell zone of superficial cervical lymph nodes of rats and other mammalians, including humans. Methods As a consequence, we investiga...

Figure Sa. A: Location of BALT tissue (arrows) in the bronchial airway walls, associated with some alveolar tissue (Av) and preferentially located at bronchial (Br) bifurcations. Figure Sb. A: Position of two NALT aggregates marked by arrows in the floor of the dorsal nasal cavity below the stratified squamous epithel (Ep) and the dermis (Dm). Fi...

The neural hard-wired pathways in which the lymphoid organs are innervated by the nervous system is of special interest with respect to suggested afferent and sensory systems informing the central nervous system about the status of the immune system. Until today efferent also like afferent innervation seem to be unspecific, targeting many types of...

Despite the high incidence of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene amplification and rearrangement in glioblastomas, no suitable cell line exists that preserves these alterations in vitro and is tumorigenic in immunocompromised mice. On the basis of previous observations that glioblastoma cells cultured with serum lose the EGFR amplificatio...