Propagation multimodiger Laserstrahlung durch turbulente Atmosphäre - Entwurfskriterien zur Laserwaffe auf Systemebene

Um die Entwicklung laserbasierter Waffensysteme voran zu treiben, ist ein tiefes Verständnis des Zusammenspiels relevanter Systemparameter nötig. Dabei ergibt sich, dass sowohl Eigenschaften des Lasers selbst, genutzte Kopplungsmechanismen als auch die Propagation der Strahlung durch turbulente Atmosphäre in dem gewählten Modell zu berücksichtigen sind um die Intensität am Ziel, und damit die Wirkung des Effektors, beschreiben zu können. Zu diesem Zweck hat das Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) verschiedene Algorithmen zur Propagation von Laserstrahlung durch turbulente Atmosphäre sowie Bewertungskriterien entwickelt, um Anforderungen an potentielle Systeme zu identifizieren und verschiedene Waffensysteme miteinander zu vergleichen. Schwerpunkt aller untersuchten Algorithmen war dabei eine Beschreibung durch möglichst allgemeingültige Parameter, wie z.B. der Beugungsmaßzahl M², um eine Vergleichbarkeit losgelöst von der spezifischen Implementierung zu erlauben. Insbesondere kann dadurch bewertet werden, ob im Vergleich von Systemen identischer Gesamtleistung, wenige Laser hoher Einzelleistung (aber niedriger Strahlqualität) oder viele Laser bei schwächerer Einzelleistung (aber höherer Strahlqualität) eine höhere Wirkung am Ziel ermögliche

Neoantigen-targeted CD8+ T cell responses with PD-1 blockade therapy

Neoantigens are peptides derived from non-synonymous mutations presented by human leukocyte antigens (HLAs), which are recognized by antitumour T cells1-14. The large HLA allele diversity and limiting clinical samples have restricted the study of the landscape of neoantigen-targeted T cell responses in patients over their treatment course. Here we applied recently developed technologies15-17 to capture neoantigen-specific T cells from blood and tumours from patients with metastatic melanoma with or without response to anti-programmed death receptor 1 (PD-1) immunotherapy. We generated personalized libraries of neoantigen-HLA capture reagents to single-cell isolate the T cells and clone their T cell receptors (neoTCRs). Multiple T cells with different neoTCR sequences (T cell clonotypes) recognized a limited number of mutations in samples from seven patients with long-lasting clinical responses. These neoTCR clonotypes were recurrently detected over time in the blood and tumour. Samples from four patients with no response to anti-PD-1 also demonstrated neoantigen-specific T cell responses in the blood and tumour to a restricted number of mutations with lower TCR polyclonality and were not recurrently detected in sequential samples. Reconstitution of the neoTCRs in donor T cells using non-viral CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing demonstrated specific recognition and cytotoxicity to patient-matched melanoma cell lines. Thus, effective anti-PD-1 immunotherapy is associated with the presence of polyclonal CD8+ T cells in the tumour and blood specific for a limited number of immunodominant mutations, which are recurrently recognized over time

Neoantigen-targeted CD8+ T cell responses with PD-1 blockade therapy

Neoantigens are peptides derived from non-synonymous mutations presented by human leukocyte antigens (HLAs), which are recognized by antitumour T cells1-14. The large HLA allele diversity and limiting clinical samples have restricted the study of the landscape of neoantigen-targeted T cell responses in patients over their treatment course. Here we applied recently developed technologies15-17 to capture neoantigen-specific T cells from blood and tumours from patients with metastatic melanoma with or without response to anti-programmed death receptor 1 (PD-1) immunotherapy. We generated personalized libraries of neoantigen-HLA capture reagents to single-cell isolate the T cells and clone their T cell receptors (neoTCRs). Multiple T cells with different neoTCR sequences (T cell clonotypes) recognized a limited number of mutations in samples from seven patients with long-lasting clinical responses. These neoTCR clonotypes were recurrently detected over time in the blood and tumour. Samples from four patients with no response to anti-PD-1 also demonstrated neoantigen-specific T cell responses in the blood and tumour to a restricted number of mutations with lower TCR polyclonality and were not recurrently detected in sequential samples. Reconstitution of the neoTCRs in donor T cells using non-viral CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing demonstrated specific recognition and cytotoxicity to patient-matched melanoma cell lines. Thus, effective anti-PD-1 immunotherapy is associated with the presence of polyclonal CD8+ T cells in the tumour and blood specific for a limited number of immunodominant mutations, which are recurrently recognized over time