Skip to content

Search

In their own words: advice from parents of children with cancer

Approximately 770 children are diagnosed with cancer in Australia every year. Research has explored their experiences and developed recommendations for improving support provided to families. These have included the provision of psychology services, improved communication between healthcare professionals and parents, and increased information for families. 

Exploiting temporal aspects of cancer immunotherapy

Many mechanisms underlying an effective immunotherapy-induced antitumour response are transient and critically time dependent. This is equally true for several immunological events in the tumour microenvironment induced by other cancer treatments. Immune checkpoint therapy (ICT) has proven to be very effective in the treatment of some cancers, but unfortunately, with many cancer types, most patients do not experience a benefit. 

Beyond bone: the emerging role of osteoclasts in immune regulation, leukemia development and following myeloablative therapy

Osteoclasts are important regulators of bone remodeling, with an established role in maintaining skeletal homeostasis. The emergence of osteoimmunology has identified osteoclasts as key players in the immune system. In particular, osteoclasts can initiate bi-directional crosstalk mechanisms with hematopoietic stem cells and various immune cells, such as T cells, B cells and NK cells, to influence hematopoiesis and inflammatory response.

Histone methyltransferase PRDM9 promotes survival of drug-tolerant persister cells in glioblastoma

Chemotherapy often kills a large fraction of cancer cells but leaves behind a small population of drug-tolerant persister cells. These persister cells survive drug treatments through reversible, non-genetic mechanisms and cause tumour recurrence upon cessation of therapy. Here, we report a drug tolerance mechanism regulated by the germ-cell-specific H3K4 methyltransferase PRDM9. 

Comparative analysis of malignant pleural effusion and peripheral blood reveals unique T cell signatures associated with survival in mesothelioma patients

The success of cancer immunotherapies has highlighted the importance of monitoring the anti-tumour T cell response. Patients with mesothelioma frequently present with a malignant pleural effusion (MPE) that is commonly drained regularly to alleviate symptoms. As MPE contains tumour cells, T cells and cytokines, it provides a unique opportunity to sample immune events at the tumour site.

Abdominal Imaging at Initial Diagnosis and Following Relapse in Children With Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is the most common paediatric malignancy and remains one of the most common causes of cancer-related death in children and adolescents. It is characterised by the proliferation of immature lymphoid cells capable of infiltrating bone marrow, blood and extramedullary sites. Five-year overall survival rates exceed 90% with current multidrug chemotherapeutic regimens. This manuscript reviews the abdominal imaging features of leukaemic infiltration in children with ALL at the time of initial diagnosis and following relapse.

Antigen reactivity defines tissue-resident memory and exhausted T cells in tumors

CD8+ T cells are an important weapon in the therapeutic armamentarium against cancer. While CD8+CD103+ T cells with a tissue-resident memory T (TRM) cell phenotype are associated with favorable prognoses, the tumor microenvironment also contains dysfunctional exhausted T (TEX) cells that exhibit a variety of TRM-like features.

Advancing CNS tumor diagnostics with expanded DNA methylation-based classification

DNA methylation-based classification is now central to contemporary neuro-oncology, as highlighted by the World Health Organization classification of central nervous system tumors. This expansion is a result of newly identified tumor types discovered through our large online repository and global collaborations, underscoring CNS tumor heterogeneity.

Flt3L-mediated tumor cDC1 expansion enhances immunotherapy by priming stem-like CD8+ T cells in lymph nodes

Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) evokes antitumor immunity through the reinvigoration of T cell responses. T cell differentiation status controls response, with less differentiated cells having an enhanced capacity to proliferate after ICB. Given that conventional type 1 dendritic cells (cDC1) maintain precursor exhausted T cells (TPEX), we hypothesized that expansion of cDC1s with Flt3L could enhance responses to ICB. 

Local therapy with combination TLR agonists stimulates systemic anti-tumor immunity and sensitizes tumors to immune checkpoint blockade

W. Joost Ben Lizeth Rachael Tao Omar Lesterhuis Wylie Orozco Morales Zemek Wang Elaskalani BSc PhD BSc, MSc, PhD BSc (Hons), PhD PhD BSc, MSc, PhD