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Prof. Dr. med. Achim Hörauf

Member, Steering-Committee Member

Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology

Medical Faculty, University of Bonn University Hospital of Bonn Sigmund-Freud-Strasse 25 53127 Bonn

achim.hoerauf@ukbonn.de

Website

Prof. Hörauf is internationally renowned for his work in Tropical Medicine, in particular for pioneering new drug treatments against filariasis (a group of neglected tropical diseases). The new treatment exploits an endosymbiosis between worms and bacterial endosymbionts called Wolbachia, which are susceptible to some classes of antibiotics. Prof. Hörauf’s group was the first to characterize a TLR2 ligand from Wolbachia and established that blindness in onchocerciasis (or ‘river blindness’) is dependent on innate immune reactions against Wolbachia. They were the first to detect regulatory T cells in humans in an infection. Modulation of host’s immune responses is another focus of Prof. Hörauf’s group, demonstrating that filarial infection and filarial antigen treatment protects against type 1 diabetes onset and improves glucose tolerance during obesity. Using expression quantitative trait loci analysis, the role of genetic factors in modulating cellular responses (to filarial antigens) and eventually filariae-caused pathology devel-opment is currently investigated. Beyond immunology, Achim Hoerauf has preclinically developed 4 new drugs against human filariasis which are now in clinical phase 1 and 2 studies, together with DNDi and pharma partners such as Abbvie, Bayer, and Esai.

Achim Hörauf

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Recent publications

  • Litomosoides sigmodontis microfilariae-induced eosinophil ETosis is dependent on the canonical inflammasome pathway.

    Cell reports

    Authors: Alexandra Ehrens, Benjamin Lenz, Celia Nieto-Pérez, Eicke Latz, Florian I Schmidt, Achim Hoerauf, Marc P Hübner

  • Large-scale production of infective larvae from engorged .

    Frontiers in tropical diseases

    Authors: Chi Anizette Kien, Rene Ebai, Fanny Fri Fombad, Frederick Esofi, Anna Ning Ntuh, Emmanuel Ouam, Narcisse Victor Tchamatchoua Gandjui, Valerine Chawa Chunda, Relindis Ekanya, Franck Noel Nietcho, Juluis Visnel Foyet, Lucy Cho Nchang, Chefor Magha, Abdel Jelil Njouendou, Peter Enyong, Achim Hoerauf, Manuel Ritter, Samuel Wanji

  • Differences of in vitro immune responses between patent and pre-patent Litomosoides sigmodontis-infected mice are independent of the filarial antigenic stimulus used.

    Parasitology research

    Authors: Kathrin Arndts, Anna Wiszniewsky, Anna-Lena Neumann, Katharina Wiszniewsky, Gnatoulma Katawa, Achim Hoerauf, Laura E Layland-Heni, Manuel Ritter, Marc P Hübner

All publications by Prof. Dr. med. Achim Hörauf