Carl-Wilhelm E. Vogel, M.D., Ph.D.

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Cancer Research Center of Hawaii

Carl-Wilhelm E. Vogel, M.D., Ph.D.
Researcher (Professor), Cancer Research Center of Hawai‘i;
Clinical Professor of Pathology, John A. Burns School of Medicine;
Graduate Faculty, Cell and Molecular Biology Program;
Adjunct Professor, Institute for Micronesian Health and Aging Studies, University of Guam
M.D., University of Hamburg;
M.S. (Biochemistry), University of Hamburg;
Ph.D. (Biochemistry), University of Hamburg;
Diplomate in Clinical Pathology, American Board of Pathology;
Life Fellow, College of American Pathologists
cvogel@crch.hawaii.edu

Publication list via PubMed
Our laboratory studies molecular aspects of the complement system, one of the effector mechanisms of the immune system. We are particularly interested in the structure and function of the third component (C3) of the human complement system. We are studying the structural differences of C3 to a highly homologous protein that occurs in the venom in the cobra, called cobra venom factor (CVF). Whereas complement activation in serum is tightly controlled, CVF escapes control and exhaustively activates complement, leading to complement depletion. Complement plays an important biological function in host defense and the immune response; however, inappropriate complement activation is also involved in the pathogenesis of many diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and reperfusion injury. In these and other diseases therapeutic complement inhibition may be warranted. As CVF is by far the most potent known agent to inhibit complement (by effectively depleting it) our laboratory tries to exploit the structural similarity between CVF and C3 to generate a C3 derivative with CVF-like functions, a protein we have termed “humanized CVF”. Humanized CVF has the potential to become a conceptually novel drug for therapeutic complement inhibition as well as for targeted complement activation for tumor cell killing.
Another research focus of the laboratory is to study the biological function and possible therapeutic potential of natural IgM antibodies against neuroblastoma.

Selected Publications
David K, Ollert MW, Vollmert C, Erttmann R, Bredehorst R, Vogel C-W. Natural IgM antibodies induce apoptosis of human neoroblastoma cells by binding to a 200 kDa antigen. Cancer Res 59:3768-75, 1999.
Gowda DC, Glushka J, Van Halbeek H, Thotakura RN, Bredehorst R, Vogel C-W. Unusual N-
linked oligosaccharides of cobra venom factor contain novel a(1-3)galactosylated Le^x structures. Glycobiol 11:195-208, 2001.
Andrä J, Halter R, Kock MA, Niemann H, Vogel C-W, Paul D. Generation and characterization of transgenic mice expressing cobra venom factor. Mol Immunol 39:357-65, 2002.
Vogel C-W, Bredehorst R, Fritzinger DC, Kock M. Recombinant Pro-CVF. U.S. Patent
No. 6,607,897, 2003.
Vogel C-W, Fritzinger DC, Hew BE, Thorne M, Bammert H. Recombinant Cobra Venom Factor. Mol. Immunol 41:191-9, 2004.
Kock MA, Hew BE, Bammert H, Fritzinger DC, Vogel C-W. Structure and Function of Recombinant Cobra Venom Factor. J. Biol. Chem 279:30836-43, 2004.

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