Immunoregulatory T cells and Tumour Immunity

癌症是工业化国家的主要死亡原因之一。虽然治疗癌症的方法不断改进，但至少在理论上，有一个领域在治疗肿瘤方面显示出巨大的希望，那就是操纵免疫系统有效地识别和摧毁癌变病灶。人类和动物系统的实验清楚地表明，免疫系统具有对肿瘤细胞作出反应的潜力，肿瘤疫苗的试验正在进行中。最近发现，对肿瘤的免疫反应可能被调节免疫细胞抑制。消除这些细胞会产生更有力、更有效的抗肿瘤反应。该项目将寻求发现这些调节免疫细胞的作用机制，以设计更有效的抗癌疫苗和治疗方法。

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the industrialized world. While therapies to treat cancer have continued to improve one area that, in theory at least, shows great promise in the treatment of tumours is manipulating the immune system to effectively recognize and destroy cancerous lesions. Experiments in human and animal systems have clearly shown that the immune system has the potential to respond to tumour cells and trials of tumour vaccines are underway. It has recently become apparent that the immune responses to tumours may be inhibited by classes of regulatory immune cells. Eliminating these cells results in a more vigorous and effective anti-tumour response. This project will seek to discover the mechanisms of action of theses regulatory immune cells in order to devise more effective anti-cancer vaccines and therapies.