The overarching objective of the research performed under this Procedures Project Licence (PPL) is to develop new strategies to treat cancer by using the immune system (immunotherapy). The current focus is on three main areas:
Developing and understanding how immune molecules called antibodies can target and destroy tumour cells.
Designing strategies to promote immune responses to cancer using antibodies and other immune-stimulating molecules.
Identify factors influencing tumour growth and development and how cells that surrounds the tumour cells can be manipulated to improve anti-cancer treatments.
The blood supply of tumours is often restricted leading to low levels of oxygen (red=low oxygen), research has found that this results in an increase in a particular protein (FcgRII; green) which can change how tumours respond to antibody therapy. Research has gone on to find that blocking the FcgRII protein can improve therapy, this is now being investigated in humans in several trials.
As the immune system patrols through the whole body, involved in all its organs and tissues, it is critical to evaluate these aspects in whole-body organisms and ideally, those most closely related to humans. Mice have simular immune systems to humans, making them a very useful species to study immunotherapy. To further improve the ability of mice to model human immunology, mice are often used where the human gene has been swapped with the comparable mouse gene. Importantly, these mouse studies have allowed significant progress in all three aspects described above. In targeting tumour cells, it has been possible to understand which immune cells are most important for activity and how to design antibodies to kill the tumour cells most effectively. In designing antibodies, there has been the discovery of new ways of making antibodies (engineering) that increase their ability to stimulate the immune response and destroy cancer cells. In examining the cells that surround the tumour we have discovered how these can be influenced by the tumour cells to help the tumour grow and survive. This has allowed the design of new treatments to overcome this issue. Critically, all three of these aspects have helped progress antibodies to the clinic alongside biotech/industrial partners. Discoveries in human trials will then feedback into this work to allow further improvement in in-vivo experiments to design even more effective cancer therapeutics. Learn more about this project and its work below:
NTS - Novel immunotherapeutic strategies to treat cancer