Our Focus
The aim of our research is to use the full potential of inhibitory receptors to cure cancer and inflammatory disease. Blockade of inhibitory receptors on T cells, known as immune checkpoint blockade (ICB), has been a breakthrough therapy for previously incurable cancers. However, most patients do not benefit from these therapies. We study immunological concepts and biological mechanisms of known and novel inhibitory receptors on a broader spectrum of immune cells to develop novel therapeutics. Our lab discovered the inhibitory collagen receptor LAIR-1, which is currently targeted in clinical trials and may be of particular benefit for those patients with immune-excluded tumours that lack T cell infiltration.
Our molecular studies on LAIR-1 are aimed to understanding its mechanism of action. In addition, in collaboration with both academic groups and private companies, we are expanding the spectrum of targetable immune inhibitory receptors using a computational discovery pipeline we recently developed. Special focus is to exploit these receptors to mobilize myeloid cells to support ICB therapy in refractory patients. We put specific effort in developing human advanced tissue culture models of the tumour microenvironment to study the therapeutic mechanism and efficacy of the mostly human-specific drugs that target these inhibitory receptors.
About Linde Meyaard
Linde Meyaard
My Research
Linde Meyaard finished her undergraduate studies in Biomedical Sciences at Leiden University in 1990. She next studied T cell function in HIV-1 infection with Frank Miedema at Sanquin in Amsterdam, where she obtained her PhD in 1995. As post-doctoral fellow, she started studying immune inhibitory receptors with Joseph Phillips and Lewis Lanier at DNAX research institute in Palo Alto, CA. Upon return to the Netherlands she continued her work on inhibitory immune receptors in the lab of Hans Clevers and developed into an independent group leader at the University Medical Center in Utrecht.
Meyaard was appointed full Professor of Immune Regulation in Utrecht in 2007. Her work is supported by several prestigious grants, such as a fellowship of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (1999-2001) and personal grants from the Dutch society for Scientific Research (2001, 2002 and 2014) and by grants from the Dutch Arthritis Foundation, Dutch Cancer Society, AICR and others.
The growing interest in her expertise on targeting inhibitory receptors therapeutically resulted in collaborations with pharmaceutical companies. Meyaard serves on multiple scientific boards and was secretary general of the Dutch Society of Immunology from 2008-2014. She spent the 2016-2017 year as a visiting scientist in the lab of Ruslan Medzhitov at the department of Immunobiology at Yale University, New Haven, CT.
Awards
2014: NWO Vici
2002: NWO Aspasia
2001: NWO Vidi
1999: Fellow of the Royal Dutch Academy of Science (KNAW)
1995: Cum Laude for PhD
Key Publications
Geerdink, R. J., Hennus, M. P., Westerlaken, G. H., Abrahams, A. C., Albers, K. I., Walk, J., ... & Meyaard, L. (2017). LAIR-1 limits neutrophil extracellular trap formation in viral bronchiolitis. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
Lebbink, R. J., de Ruiter, T., Adelmeijer, J., Brenkman, A. B., van Helvoort, J. M., Koch, M., ... & Meyaard, L. (2006). Collagens are functional, high affinity ligands for the inhibitory immune receptor LAIR-1. Journal of Experimental Medicine, 203(6), 1419-1425.
Rygiel, T. P., Karnam, G., Goverse, G., Van Der Marel, A. P. J., Greuter, M. J., Van Schaarenburg, R. A., ... & Mebius, R. E. (2012). CD200-CD200R signaling suppresses anti-tumor responses independently of CD200 expression on the tumor. Oncogene, 31(24), 2979.
Van Avondt, K., van der Linden, M., Naccache, P. H., Egan, D. A., & Meyaard, L. (2016). Signal inhibitory receptor on leukocytes-1 limits the formation of neutrophil extracellular traps, but preserves intracellular bacterial killing. The Journal of Immunology, 196(9), 3686-3694.
Van Der Vlist, M., Kuball, J., Radstake, T. R., & Meyaard, L. (2016). Immune checkpoints and rheumatic diseases: what can cancer immunotherapy teach us?. Nature Reviews Rheumatology, 12(10), 593.
Members
| Linde Meyaard Group leader | Elena Dios Spanal PhD Student | Eline Mommers-Elshof Technician |
| Enrique Andres Sastre Post-Doc | Francisco Landum Technician | Jan Bormin Phd student |
| Maaike Koops PhD student | Maaike Waasdorp Post-doc | Margreet Westerlaken Technician |
| Marije Voskamp PhD student | Megan Farrell Post-doc | Michiel van der Vlist co-PI |
| Rowie Borst PhD student | Saskia Vijver Phd student | Sara Parsa Postdoc |