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Research
Catalysing change in health and medical research policy: an Australian case study of deliberative democracy to reform sex and gender policy recommendationsRevising public health policy based on new data does not happen automatically. This is acutely relevant to the now undeniable evidence that many diseases develop differently between the sexes and may also be affected by gender. Current health and medical practices across the globe generally fail to cater for sex and gender effects in common diseases.
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Novel GABAAR antagonists target networked gene hubs at the leading-edge in high-grade gliomasIon channel activity underlying biological processes that drive high-grade gliomas (HGG) is largely unknown. We aimed to determine the networking of ion channel genes and validate their expression within HGG patient tumors, to identify ion channel-targeting drugs that would inhibit tumor-promoting processes.
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Kids are not small adults, Identifying age-dependent drug targets in paediatric oncologyCancers in children are very different to cancers in adults. However, most therapeutic strategies are designed explicitly for adult cancers, and then used in children if proven safe.
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The interplay between sarcoma and surgery-induced wound healingIn this project, we are using systems biology approaches to map the wound healing response in sarcoma following surgery to identify new treatments that can prevent sarcoma relapse.
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Timing of excision after a non-severe burn has a significant impact on the subsequent immune response in a murine modelEarly excision of the wound, during the phase of immune down-regulation initiated by the burn, maintains an innate and adaptive immune cell response
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Retinoic Acid Induces an IFN-Driven Inflammatory Tumour Microenvironment, Sensitizing to Immune Checkpoint TherapyWith immune checkpoint therapy (ICT) having reshaped the treatment of many cancers, the next frontier is to identify and develop novel combination therapies to improve efficacy. Previously, we and others identified beneficial immunological effects of the vitamin A derivative tretinoin on anti-tumour immunity.
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Comprehensive Testing of Chemotherapy and Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Preclinical Cancer Models Identifies Additive CombinationsAntibodies that target immune checkpoints such as cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA‐4) and the programmed cell death protein 1/ligand 1 (PD-1/PD-L1) are now a treatment option for multiple cancer types. However, as a monotherapy, objective responses only occur in a minority of patients. Chemotherapy is widely used in combination with immune checkpoint blockade (ICB). Although a variety of isolated immunostimulatory effects have been reported for several classes of chemotherapeutics, it is unclear which chemotherapeutics provide the most benefit when combined with ICB.
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Abacavir inhibits but does not cause self-reactivity to HLA-B*57:01-restricted EBV specific T cell receptorsPre-existing pathogen-specific memory T cell responses can contribute to multiple adverse outcomes including autoimmunity and drug hypersensitivity. How the specificity of the T cell receptor (TCR) is subverted or seconded in many of these diseases remains unclear. Here, we apply abacavir hypersensitivity (AHS) as a model to address this question because the disease is linked to memory T cell responses and the HLA risk allele, HLA-B*57:01, and the initiating insult, abacavir, are known.
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Diverse Anti-Tumor Immune Potential Driven by Individual IFNα SubtypesOur data shows that the expression of distinct IFNα subtypes within the tumor microenvironment results in different anti-tumor activities
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Cancer chemotherapy: insights into cellular and tumor microenvironmental mechanisms of actionChemotherapy has historically been the mainstay of cancer treatment, but our understanding of what drives a successful therapeutic response remains limited.