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Host-tumour interplay in Tasmanian devils with devil facial tumour disease: can immune cells be harnessed for therapy? Tasmanian devils only exist naturally in Tasmania and Devil Facial Tumour Disease, an infectious cancer, could cause the extinction of the Tasmanian devil. This project will determine if Devil Facial Tumour Disease reduces the effectiveness of the devil's immune system and test if activated immune cells can protect against this disease.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100484
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$365,058.00
Summary
Tipping the balance from tolerance to immunity for the devil facial tumour. This project aims to develop a single-shot vaccine for the Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease. The disease is an enigma because the transmissible tumours are simultaneously cancer, infections, and genetically mismatched tissue grafts. This project will focus on immune molecules that are revolutionising human oncology, and will develop techniques to understand and systematically test the function of these key molecules ....Tipping the balance from tolerance to immunity for the devil facial tumour. This project aims to develop a single-shot vaccine for the Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease. The disease is an enigma because the transmissible tumours are simultaneously cancer, infections, and genetically mismatched tissue grafts. This project will focus on immune molecules that are revolutionising human oncology, and will develop techniques to understand and systematically test the function of these key molecules in Tasmanian devils. Understanding the role of these immune molecules will accelerate development of a vaccine to help save the devil and has the potential to shed light on general principles relating to how the immune system balances tolerance and immunity.Read moreRead less
Immunisation to protect against transmissible cancers in Tasmanian devils. This project aims to identify the immune escape mechanisms that the transmissible cancers, Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD) use to avoid being killed by the immune system. Since the discovery of the second transmissible cancer (DFT2) mystery surrounds whether the devils immune system can respond to this cancer, hence this project will investigate the immune response to DFT2. The final aims are to develop a vaccine with ....Immunisation to protect against transmissible cancers in Tasmanian devils. This project aims to identify the immune escape mechanisms that the transmissible cancers, Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD) use to avoid being killed by the immune system. Since the discovery of the second transmissible cancer (DFT2) mystery surrounds whether the devils immune system can respond to this cancer, hence this project will investigate the immune response to DFT2. The final aims are to develop a vaccine with the potential to protect healthy devils and cure devils with DFTD.Read moreRead less