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Teaching Summary
Our group are instrumental in the running of two very successful MSc courses in Cancer Immunology and Biotechnology and Oncology. These focus on current developments and understanding of the causes… read more
Research Summary
We have been funded by the major institutions funding the development of novel aproaches to treating Cancer and Immune regulation including; Cancer Research UK, Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund, Lewis… read more
Selected Publications
SHARP, T., AL-ATTAR, A., FOXLER, D.E., DING, L., VALLIM, T.Q.D.A., ZHANG, Y., NIJMEH, H.S., WEBB, T.M., NICHOLSON, A.G., ZHANG, Q., KRAJA, A., SPENDLOVE, I., OSBOURNE, J., MARDIS, E. and LONGMORE, G.D., 2008. The chromosome 3p21.3-encoded gene, LIMD1, is a critical tumor suppressor involved in human lung cancer development Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 105(50), 19932-19937 AITHAL, G.P., THOMAS, J.A., KAYE, P.V., LAWSON, A., RYDER, S.D., SPENDLOVE, I., AUSTIN, A.S., FREEMAN, J.G., MORGAN, L. and WEBBER, J., 2008. Randomized, placebo controlled trial of pioglitazone in non-diabetic subjects with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis Gastroenterology. 135(4), 1176-1184 SPENDLOVE, I., AL-ATTAR, A., WATHERSTONE, O., WEBB, T.M., ELLIS, E.O., LONGMORE, G.D. and SHARP, T.V., 2008. Differential subcellular localisation of the tumour suppressor protein LIMD1 in breast cancer correlates with patient survival International Journal of Cancer. 123(10), 2247-2253 DUNCAN, T.J., AL-ATTAR, A., ROLLAND, P., SCOTT, I.V., DEEN, S., LIU, D.T.Y., SPENDLOVE, I. and DURRANT, L.G., 2008. Vascular endothelial growth factor expression in ovarian cancer: a model for targeted use of novel therapies? Clinical Cancer Research. 14(10), 3030-3035
Our group are instrumental in the running of two very successful MSc courses in Cancer Immunology and Biotechnology and Oncology. These focus on current developments and understanding of the causes of cancer and also in the identification of novel approaches to treatment and targeting of cancer. The courses are 1 year long, have a mix of didactic teaching and interactive learning to provide the essential background to a six month research project. these are taken with one of the active cancer research groups at Nottingham and cover a range of subjects including Antibody development, Tumour-DC biology, Tregs and Cancer, Drug Design, Pathology, Radiation Biology, Preclinical tumour models, Vascular biology and site specific projects including Brain tumour, Breast cancer, Haematology, Melanoma research.
Current Research
We have been funded by the major institutions funding the development of novel aproaches to treating Cancer and Immune regulation including; Cancer Research UK, Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund, Lewis Charitable trust, MRC, Bowel Cancer Trust and the Cancr Vaccines Institute. Our programmes of work are focused around the discovery of strategies employed by tumours to avoid immune recognition and in so doing identify novel mechanisms and molecules that can be targeted. These include a novel class of glycans preferentially expressed by tumours against which we have generated high affinity, high specificity monoclonal antibodies. These demonstrate some potent anti-tumour activity and novel mechanisms of action, by directly affecting membrane integrity. Another class of antibodies we have generated are similar to a the checkpoint blockade antibodies in that they regulate immune function by interfering with T cell and antigen presenting cell communication. We chimerise and humanise our own antibodies and have access to a range of orthotopic Xenograft models in which to test their efficacy. One of our humanised antibodies controls the production of IL-10 in a regulatory population of T cells, sometimes referred to as Tr1. Our clinical association has enabled us to study these relatively uncharacterised T cells in diseases including Cancer and Multiple Sclerosis where dramatic changes can be observed.
Past Research
Our Group have over 20 years research expertise in the generation of antibodies to cancer and the development of these for pre-clinical and clinical trials. We have seen many of our antibodies enter phase one clinical trials, developed the first human anti-idiotype to go into clinical trails, currently have one antibody in trial and have a pipeline of antibody-based therapeutics being evaluated by the pharmaceutical industry.
Future Research
Our continued aim is to study immune defects in disease, identify potential targets at the tumour - immune cell interface and develop novel antibodies that target these.
We support a range of students from MSc, MRes and PhD to post doctoral fellows. We have active research projects in;
Understanding CD55-CD97 mediated regulation of IL-10 at the T-cell-DC interface. We have unique resources to enable us to characterise the profile of these cells, identify the pathways by which they are regulated and target these to regulate their induction and function.
Antibody development to tumour specific Glycans in a humanised Rat model (OmniRat, carrying the Human IgG locus)
Characterisation of anti-tetraspanin antibodies. A small class of molecules with roles in immune regulation, against which there are few reagents available. We have developed a novel strategy to overcome this shortfall and have a panel of anti-tetraspanin antibodies requiring characterisation.