My research projects in the fields of cancer biology, vascular biology and immunology assess molecular mechanisms of vascular remodelling and implications for disease.
Tumour Antigen Cross-presentation: Efficiency, Biology And Role Of Inhibitory B7 Homologue Molecules
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$469,500.00
Summary
It is now known that the body s immune system often attempts to attack cancers but this response is generally fairly weak. It was previously thought that one of the main reasons for this failure was that the immune system was ignorant of the presence of the cancer until too late. Our recent work over the past few years has shown that this is not the case. A process called cross-presentation seems to efficiently and continuously expose the cancer to the body s anti-cancer killer T-cells. This gra ....It is now known that the body s immune system often attempts to attack cancers but this response is generally fairly weak. It was previously thought that one of the main reasons for this failure was that the immune system was ignorant of the presence of the cancer until too late. Our recent work over the past few years has shown that this is not the case. A process called cross-presentation seems to efficiently and continuously expose the cancer to the body s anti-cancer killer T-cells. This grant will work out exactly how efficient that process is, which cells are responsible and some aspects of how it happens. We will also study whether some recently-discovered braking molecules, which slow down immune responses and which could be 'applying the brakes' to anti-cancer responses. This could lead to new approaches to therapy eg by removing these brakes during vaccination therapy.Read moreRead less
Real-time analysis of tumour-infiltrating T cells using novel analytical tools. By dynamic visualization of immune cells within intact tumours, we have shown that active screening for target cells optimises their anti-tumour effect. This project will develop novel mathematical/analytical tools to unravel the basic strategies that enable immune cells to position themselves at the right location at the right time.