prof. Fritz Offner (MD, PhD)
Principal investigator / group leader, clinician
Head of Department Clinical Hematology (UZ Gent)
Full Professor of hematological oncology (UGent)
Coordinating fellowship accreditor (Internal Medicine, UGent)
Research focus
The focus of my research is on clinical drug development in lymphoid malignancy. This comprises phase 1-3 studies of new compounds and trials of comparative of available treatment modalities, linked to translational research in the following domains:
1. NHL, DLBCL, follicular NHL (FL), mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), marginal zone lymphoma, PTCL-NOS, AITLD.
2. B-CLL with participation in trials of alternative antiCD20, antiCD37, Btk and BCL2 inhibitors.
Participation in
- immunuchemotherapy antiCD20 (Rituximab, Ofatumumab, Obinutuzomab) antiCD19, antiCD40, immunotoxins alphaCD22, alphaCD19, alphaCD30, bispecific Ab alphaCD19, bispecific T- enhancers alphaCD20 and CART antiCD19.
- combination chemo-small molecules Bortezomib in FL, DLBCL, MCL, Btk inhibitor in DLBCL, FL, indolent B-NHL. Imids in DLBCL, PI3K inhibitors and HDAC inhibitors in FL
- translational research NGS in FL, NGS on circulating tumor DNA in DLBCL and HL
- real world outcome studies in DLBCL
3. Multiple myeloma
- Strategic trials in first line
- oral PI
- Imids vs VPT
- Advanced registration (Carfilzomib, Pomalidomide)
- Ab studies (anti-ICAM1, antiCD38)
- Bispecific Ab and CART antiBCMA, antiGPR5D, FcRH5 - In vitro work on
- glucocorticoid sensitivity - Collaborative bioinformative projects on cell of origin transcript and outcome in patients with multiple myeloma.
Biography
Medical Doctor, RUG, Belgium, 1985
Master degree in Medical and Pharmaceutical Technology, VUB, Belgium, 1989
Ph.D. thesis in Biomedical Sciences, University Ghent, 1993
Fellowship in Hematology, University Hospital Ghent, 1988-1990
Belgian board certification in Internal Medicine (direction Hematology), October 1990
Fellowship in bone marrow transplantation, University of Washington, Seattle, 1/91-7/92
Fellowship in Medical Oncology, Daniel den Hoed Kliniek, Rotterdam, 7/92-1/93
2007-2010 President of Belgian Hematological Society
2002 Hoofddocent hematologie
2012 Head of Dept. Hematology
2017 Hoogleraar
2025 Gewoon Hoogleraar
Member of the lymphoproliferatif party BHS
Member of the scientific council LYSA
Member of the administrative council LYSA
Research team
- prof. Fritz Offner - principal investigator
- dr. Philip Vlummens
- dr. Ciel De Vriendt
- dr. Nicolas Kint
- dr. Philippe Decruyenaere (MD, PhD) - post-doctoral fellow
- dr. Willem Daneels (MD) - doctoral fellow
- Charlotte Stubbe - doctoral fellow
- Karlien Van Wesemael - laboratory
- Lieselot Vandepitte - study coordinator
- Sofie Lust - study coordinator
- Valerie Haelterman - study coordinator
- Saskia Baert - study coordinator
- Nathalie Luickx - study coordinator
- Katrien De Grove – study coordinator
Key publications
- Rituximab maintenance for 2 years in patients with high tumour burden follicular lymphoma responding to rituximab plus chemotherapy (PRIMA): a phase 3, randomised controlled trial. Lancet, 2011 (PMID: 21176949)
- Identification of an Ire1alpha endonuclease specific inhibitor with cytotoxic activity against human multiple myeloma. Blood, 2011 (PMID: 21081713)
- Frontline rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and prednisone with bortezomib (VR-CAP) or vincristine (R-CHOP) for non-GCB LBCL. Blood, 2015 (PMID: 26232170)
- Ibrutinib as initial therapy for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. New England Journal of Medicine, 2015 (PMID: 26639149)
- Chlorambucil plus ofatumumab versus chlorambucil alone in previously untreated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (COMPLEMENT 1): a randomised, multicentre, open-label phase 3 trial. Lancet, 2015 (PMID: 25882396)
- A gene-expression profiling score for prediction of outcome in patients with follicular lymphoma: a retrospective training and validation analysis in three international cohorts. Lancet Oncology, 2018 (PMID: 29475724)
- Glofitamab for relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. N. Engl. J. Med, 387(24). p.2220-2231, 2022.
- High efficacy of huCD20-targeted AcTaferon in humanized patient derived xenograft models of aggressive B cell lymphoma. Exp Hematol Oncol, 13(1), 2024
- Characterizing the cell-free transcriptome in a humanized diffuse large B-cell lymphoma patient-derived tumor xenograft model for RNA-based liquid biopsy in a preclinical setting. Int J Mol Sci, 25(18), 2024.
Contact & links
- Department Clinical Hematology (UZ Gent)
- prof. Offner is interested to receive invitations for talks or presentations