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Introducing Angelika Riemer – Stimulating the Immune System to Fight Cancer Print E-mail
bridges vol. 26, July 2010 / News from the Network: Austrian Researchers Abroad

By Maria Hinnerth


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Angelika Riemer
For almost 300 years, there have been discussions of whether the immune system is capable of fighting cancer. The first indications that this might be possible were in the 18th century, when it was noted that feverish infections in cancer patients were occasionally associated with cancer remission. In the 1890s the New York surgeon William Coley began to seriously investigate this phenomenon. He discovered that an infection with the bacterium Streptococcus pyogenes caused a severe inflammation, which could lead to a remission of cancer. He injected heat-killed Streptococcus cultures ("Coley's Toxin") directly into the tumor tissue and observed regression in some cases. With this method, he could achieve a cure rate of at least 10 percent. Despite this success, many scientists believed that it would be impossible for the immune system to recognize and respond to its own malignant cells. It took almost 100 years and the persistence of visionary scientists like Lewis Thomas and Sir MacFarlane Burnet, who enunciated the "Tumor Immunosurveillance Theory" to reach the present awareness that the immune system IS capable of fighting cancer. This knowledge is now utilized for the development of cancer vaccines, and the Austrian Angelika Riemer is among the top researchers worldwide in the field of cancer vaccination.

Born in Salzburg in 1976 as the oldest of three girls, Riemer already knew as a teenager that she didn't want a nine-to-five job for her professional life, but something more challenging. Thanks to her brilliant intellect, her encouraging family - which always affirmed that there is nothing a girl can't do - and her excitement about learning new things, she made her way through her medical studies with excellent grades and finally graduated sub auspiciis. Only a graduate who achieves an A average from high school through the achievement of a doctoral degree is honored sub auspiciis. As she first came in contact with immunology in the course of a pathophysiology lecture, she was intrigued by the subject and knew that this was the field in which she wanted to do research. This was the reason that Riemer chose to take an undergraduate course in immunology during her exchange semester at the Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. There she had to write a final paper and, out of several different topics to choose from - and even back in 1999 - she chose cancer vaccines. But why was she so fascinated by immunology and cancer vaccines in particular? She explained it as follows: "I really believe that there is a lot to be achieved if we learn enough about the immune system to stimulate it into eradicating cancer. Research in this area is fascinating and also satisfying. More and more people suffer from cancer and if you just imagine that one day you could help them through vaccination! I think it is a rewarding field of research."
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