Michael Thomas heads the department of Thoracic Oncology at the Thoraxklinik - University of Heidelberg and is member of the board of directors of the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) in Heidelberg. Prior to his position in Heidelberg, he had been appointed as a full professor at the University Hospital of Münster. His clinical education and training he received in Gießen, Düsseldorf and Münster. Since 2011 he has taken responsibility as coordinator of the DA Lung Cancer within the DZL and since 2016 he has been member of the executive committee of the AIO within the German Cancer Society.
He is strongly dedicated in the conception, conduction and coordination of clinical trials and biomarker exploration in the field of thoracic oncology. Chairing the German Lung Cancer Cooperative Group he designed and conducted large scaled phase III trials in the trimodality treatment setting of non-small cell lung cancer; here he has been awarded with the John Mendelsohn – Clinical Trial Award of the German Cancer Society. Current Translational research activities focus on the assessment of molecular features and prerequisites of the tumor microenvironment indicating predictive and prognostic impact in the locally advanced and metastatic treatment setting.
- Prospective patient cohort establishment
- Exploration of prognostic / predictive parameters in defined therapy contexts
- Characterisation of the tumor microenvironment during immunotherapy
Lung Cancer (LC)
- Shah R., Buchmeier E.L., Kopp H.G., Christoph D.C., Griesinger F., Reck M., Hoffknecht P., Kuon J., Frost N., Grohé C., Faehling M., Luan J., Roeper J., Chesi P., Blasi M., Kimmich M., Olchers T., Bischoff H., Klotz L.V., Chung I., Christopoulos P., Thomas M. (2025): First-line nivolumab plus ipilimumab in pleural mesothelioma: Efficacy and safety data from the real-world MesoNet study. Lung Cancer.207: 108702.
- Cho B.C., Lu S., Felip E., Spira A.I., Girard N., Lee J.S., Lee S.H., Ostapenko Y., Dancha-ivijitr P., Liu B., Alip A., Korbenfeld E., Mourão Dias J., Besse B., Lee K.H., Xiong H., How S.H., Cheng Y., Chang G.C., Yoshioka H., Yang J.C., Thomas M., Nguyen D., Ou S.I., Mukhedkar S., Prabhash K., D'Arcangelo M., Alatorre-Alexander J., Vázquez Limón J.C., Alves S., Stroyakovskiy D., Peregudova M., Şendur M.A.N., Yazici O., Califano R., Gutiérrez Calderón V., de Marinis F., Passaro A., Kim S.W., Gadgeel S.M., Xie J., Sun T., Martinez M., Ennis M., Fennema E., Daksh M., Millington D., Leconte I., Iwasawa R., Lo-renzini P., Baig M., Shah S., Bauml J.M., Shreeve S.M., Sethi S., Knoblauch R.E., Hayashi H. (2024): Amivantamab plus Lazertinib in Previously Untreated EGFR-Mutated Advanced NSCLC. N Engl J Med 391: 486-1498.
- Houda I., Dickhoff C., Uyl-de Groot C.A., Damhuis R.A.M., Reguart N., Provencio M., Levy A., Dziadziuszko R., Pompili C., Di Maio M., Thomas M., Brunelli A. Popat S, Senan S., Bahce I. (2024): Challenges and controversies in resectable non-small cell lung cancer: a clinician's perspective. Lancet Reg Health Eur 38: 100841.
- Besse B., Pons-Tostivint E., Park K., Hartl S., Forde P.M., Hochmair M.J., Awad M.M., Thomas M., Goss G., Wheatley-Price P., Shepherd F.A., Florescu M., Cheema P., Chu Q.S.C., Kim S.W., Morgensztern D., Johnson M.L., Cousin S., Kim D.W., Moskovitz M.T., Vicente D., Aronson B., Hobson R., Ambrose H.J., Khosla S., Reddy A., Russell D.L., Keddar M.R., Conway J.P., Barrett J.C., Dean E., Kumar R., Dressman M., Jewsbury P.J., Iyer S., Barry S.T., Cosaert J., Heymach J.V. (2024): Biomarker-directed targeted therapy plus durvalumab in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: a phase 2 umbrella trial. Nat Med 30: 716-729.
- Blasi M., Kuon J., Lüders H., Misch D., Kauffmann-Guerrero D., Hilbrandt M., Kazdal D., Falkenstern-Ge R.F., Hackanson B., Dintner S., Faehling M., Kirchner M., Volckmar A.L., Kopp H.G., Allgäuer M., Grohé C., Tufman A., Reck M., Frost N., Stenzinger A., Thomas M., Christopoulos P. (2024): Corrigendum to "First-line immunotherapy for lung cancer with MET exon 14 skipping and the relevance of TP53 mutations" Eur J Cancer 205: 114130.
- Garon E.B., Lu S., Goto Y., De Marchi P., Paz-Ares L., Spigel D.R., Thomas M., Yang J.C., Ardizzoni A., Barlesi F., Orlov S., Yoshioka H., Mountzios G., Khanna S., Bossen C., Carbini M., Turri S., Myers A., Cho B.C. (2024): Canakinumab as Adjuvant Therapy in Pa-tients With Completely Resected Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer: Results From the CANOPY-A Double-Blind, Randomized Clinical Trial. J Clin Oncol 42: 180-191.
Petros Christopoulos | Scientific Coordinator |
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Sabine Wessels | DZL Project Coordinator |
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Farastuk Bozorgmehr | Specialist in Internal Medicine |
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Rajiv Shah | Consultant Oncologist |
Lung Research - Projects
1. Prospective establishment and analysis of patient cohorts
Prospectively, comprehensively phenotyped patient cohorts with longitudinal biomaterial acquisition are established. The stratified orientation is adapted according to hypotheses and questions, such as development of resistance in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with defined molecular alteration as well as (in-)effectiveness of immunotherapeutic approaches in NSCLC, SCLC and mesothelioma. In cooperation with the Pathology department, tissue-based analyses such as RNA-/DNA Next Generation Sequencing, Nanostring 360, digital pathology and multiplex immunofluorescence are performed. In cooperation with other research groups, blood-based analyses like flow cytometry, gene expression analyses, T-cell receptor ß-repertoire, cytokine profile and proteomics are performed. (Figure 1)
2. Exploration of prognostic / predictive parameters in defined therapy contexts
Using the example of an ALK-positive lung carcinoma defined by gene fusion, a comprehensively characterised patient cohort was analysed and the prognostic value of fusion variants as well as the p53-comuation was shown (collaboration with the Department of Molecular Pathology at the University Hospital Heidelberg; Prof. Stenzinger). Biomaterials are analysed molecularly and immunologically and provided for translational biomarker exploration in liquid biopsies (longitudinal monitoring) and for the generation of in vitro and in vivo models in collaboration with other research groups. A multicentre study (ABP) designed by the research group has an extensional translational research program, in which tissue, blood and CSF-samples are used to analyse therapy efficiency and the development of resistance patterns. (Figure 2)
3. Characterisation of the tumor microenvironment during immunotherapy
Multimodal therapy concepts integrating surgery, radiotherapy and system therapy improve the outcome of thoracic oncological diseases. In interdisciplinary designed study approaches, the optimisation of the algorithm is carried out with special integration of immune therapy. This takes place in a multicentre treatment setting. Examples of study activities are the locally advanced non-small-cell lung carcinoma (TRADEhypo), the metastatic small-cell lung carcinoma (TREASURE) and the mesothelioma (NICITA). In addition, biomarker acquisition and exploration are performed to improve the effectiveness and therapy control of the immunotherapeutic component. Correspondingly, these analyses are followed up in prospectively established patient cohorts with deep phenotyping, longitudinal imaging and biomaterial acquisition. (Figure 3)
