The research laboratories of the Children's Cancer Centre are within the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital and affiliated with the University of Melbourne Department of Paediatrics.
Proudly supported by
Australian Cancer Research Foundation has committed $1 million to fund our innovative research to make discoveries in the fight against childhood cancer.
The Tumour Immunology Laboratory
The tumour immunology group is examining the feasibility of using dendritic cell based immunotherapy for paediatric patients with cancer. Dendritic cells are antigen presenting cells that collect material (antigen) such as bacteria and viruses that are foreign to the body, then process and present this antigen to immune cells (eg, T cells) to initiate an antigen specific immune response. As these cells have a central role in initiating specific immune responses, attention has been focused on using them as "vaccine adjuvants" because they may be able to stimulate immune responses to tumour-associated antigens, which are generally not immunogenic. This approach has been successful in animal models: protective and therapeutic dendritic cell vaccination with tumour-associated protein, peptides or RNA can successfully prevent or suppress tumour development. The group has recently completed testing this strategy in a Phase I clinical trial in paediatric neuroblastoma, recurrent solid tumour and recurrent brain tumour patients, using dendritic cells loaded with tumour RNA.
Associate Professor David AshleyTumour Immunology Laboratory Group Leader Children's Cancer Centre Murdoch Childrens Research Institute Royal Children's Hospital Flemington Road Parkville Victoria 3052 Australia T +61 3 9345 5656 E |