Pierre van der Bruggen
Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium
Biography
Born in 1959 in Brussels, Pierre van der Bruggen completed in 1982 studies in the Faculty of Agronomy at the Université catholique de Louvain and, in 1987, a Ph.D in Agronomical Sciences on a fungus pathogenic for cassava. In 1988, he joined the research group of Thierry Boon at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. He became Associate Professor in 2000 at the Medical Faculty of the Université catholique de Louvain, where is is now Full Professor. Pierre van der Bruggen identified in 1991 the first human gene, MAGE-1, coding for a tumor antigen recognized by cytolytic T lymphocytes. He and his group identified over the years several other cancer germline genes and defined a large number of antigenic peptides, which are encoded by these genes and recognized on tumors by CD8 or CD4 T lymphocytes. Efforts have then been devoted to set up assays that accurately monitor CD4+ T cell responses to cancer vaccines. The group is currently involved in the study of MAGE-3-specific regulatory T cells and anergy of human tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. Together with Nathalie Demotte, a Ph.D. student in his group, Pierre van der Bruggen identified a novel mechanism causing anergy of CD8 T lymphocytes, including human tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. Their observations indicate that human tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, which are very often anergic, can recover ex vivo their effector functions with galectin antagonists. A clinical trial with cancer patients started recently on the basis of these results. Pierre van der Bruggen received the Prize of the "Fondation Maggy et Robert de Hovre" in 1995, the Prize of the "Fondation Alexandre et Gaston Tytgat" in 1998, and the Prize "Wivine et Jacques Allard-Janssen" in 2009. He is the author of 98 research articles (40 as first or last author, 58 as co-author) and 31 review articles.