Inflammation and cancer

New treatment Discovered by Prof Hertzog’s team, interferon epsilon is found in the reproductive tract of women where it activates the local innate immune response that controls inflammation. This process is important in protect us from infections and also the development and spread of cancer. The team is developing a novel candidate for the treatment of ovarian cancer with a commercial partner.

Molecular studies. Cancer cells are good at hiding from the immune system. However, if immune cells engage with tumours, the immune system can learn to recognise and remove every single cancer cell. Professor Gantier is investigating how RNA therapeutics, similar to those used in mRNA vaccines, can be used to reignite immune activity in tumour cells to drive systemic anti-tumoral responses. This work has immense potential for the treatment many different cancers, including leukaemia.

Therapeutic target Infection by the bacterium, H. pylori, is a major factor in the development of stomach cancer. Professor Ferrero’s group showed that stomach tissues produce a molecule that reduces the inflammatory changes associated with cancer induced by H. pylori infection. This molecule may be targeted in therapeutic strategies to treat inflammation-induced cancer.

Molecular studies This project is investigating how bacteria use membrane vesicles to transport molecules into host cells and communicate with these cells. The fundamental insights gained from this work are relevant to the use of bacterial vesicles in vaccines, as well as in gene therapy and gene editing applications. The research will also increase the understanding of how bacteria modulate inflammatory responses during infection.

Molecular studies. The STAT gene family is essential for the transmission of chemical signals in cells. One member of this family, STAT3, is essential for life and unregulated changes to its activity result in disease including cancer and immune disorders. A/Prof Dan Gough’s team uses pre-clinical models, mass-spectrometry, structural biology and biochemistry to investigate the way that STAT3 drives disease and identify new therapies.

Molecular studies.  The mechanisms that regulate the process of metastases of breast cancer cells to other organs such as the lungs and bone are regulated by the process of inflammation which brings specialist immune cells into proximity to eliminate the metastatic tumour cells. Professor Hertzog’s focus is on the molecules that block the metastatic process and stimulate the immune response in regulating this process.