Tumour Immunology

我们正在进行几种不同的调查，共同目标是改善癌症的治疗策略。癌细胞能够避免被免疫系统破坏，这意味着目前还没有有效的治疗方法。我们知道，在几种不同类型的癌症中，有越来越多的称为骨髓抑制细胞（MDSC）的细胞抑制免疫系统，因此允许癌细胞继续生长和分裂。我们还知道，另一种免疫细胞-不变的自然杀伤T（iNKT）细胞-监测恶性细胞并减少黑色素瘤患者中循环MDSC的数量，从而恢复对癌细胞的免疫反应。这些iNKT细胞非常重要，因为它们在免疫系统识别外源蛋白的部分和破坏异常细胞的部分之间形成了一座“桥梁”。通过研究iNKT细胞的行为，我们的目标是找到以可控的方式增加其活性的方法，并使用它们来“启动”对肿瘤细胞的免疫反应。我们的临床试验项目目前正在将临床前发现转化为癌症候选疫苗的I期和II期临床试验。

We are pursuing several different lines of investigation with the common goal of improving treatment strategies for cancer. The ability of cancer cells to avoid destruction by the immune system means that as yet there is no effective treatment. We know that in several different types of cancer there are increased numbers of cells called myeloid suppressor cells (MDSC) that suppress the immune system, and therefore allow cancer cells to continue to grow and divide. We also know that another kind of immune cells - invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells –monitor malignant cells and decrease the numbers of circulating MDSCs in melanoma patients, thus restoring the immune response to cancer cells. These iNKT cells are very important because they form a “bridge” between the part of the immune system that recognises foreign proteins and the part that destroys abnormal cells. By studying the behaviour of iNKT cells we aim to find ways of increasing their activity in a controlled way, and use them to “jump-start” immune responses to tumour cells. Our clinical trial program is presently translating preclinical findings into phase I and II clinical trials of cancer vaccine candidates.