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Research

Tretinoin improves the anti-cancer response to cyclophosphamide, in a model-selective manner

Chemotherapy is included in treatment regimens for many solid cancers, but when administered as a single agent it is rarely curative. The addition of immune checkpoint therapy to standard chemotherapy regimens has improved response rates and increased survival in some cancers. However, most patients do not respond to treatment and immune checkpoint therapy can cause severe side effects. Therefore, there is a need for alternative immunomodulatory drugs that enhance chemotherapy.

Research

The type II RAF inhibitor tovorafenib in relapsed/refractory pediatric low-grade glioma: the phase 2 FIREFLY-1 trial

BRAF genomic alterations are the most common oncogenic drivers in pediatric low-grade glioma.

Research

Reproducible Bioinformatics Analysis Workflows for Detecting IGH Gene Fusions in B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia Patients

B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (B-ALL) is characterised by diverse genomic alterations, the most frequent being gene fusions detected via transcriptomic analysis (mRNA-seq). Due to its hypervariable nature, gene fusions involving the Immunoglobulin Heavy Chain (IGH) locus can be difficult to detect with standard gene fusion calling algorithms and significant computational resources and analysis times are required. We aimed to optimize a gene fusion calling workflow to achieve best-case sensitivity for IGH gene fusion detection.

News & Events

Why timing matters: How tumours respond to immunotherapy treatments over time

Researchers have identified key differences between cancers that respond to immunotherapy and those that do not.

News & Events

Researchers narrow down field of new treatments for most common childhood brain cancer

Cancer researchers have narrowed-down the field of immunotherapy drugs which could be used to tackle a form of childhood brain cancer.

News & Events

WA Kids Cancer Centre researchers appointed to Brain Cancer Expert Advisory Panel

Dr Jessica Buck and Associate Professor Raelene Endersby have been appointed to the prestigious Australian Brain Cancer Mission Expert Advisory Panel.

Research

Inflammation induces α1-adrenoceptor expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with complex regional pain syndrome

Persistent regional and systemic inflammation may promote pain and hyperalgesia in complex regional pain syndrome. In this study, we investigated whether stimulation of α1-adrenoceptors on peripheral blood mononuclear cells might contribute to this inflammatory state.

Research

Down syndrome and leukemia: from basic mechanisms to clinical advances

Children with Down syndrome (DS, trisomy 21) are at a significantly higher risk of developing acute leukemia compared to the overall population. Many studies investigating the link between trisomy 21 and leukemia initiation and progression have been conducted over the last two decades.

Research

Celebrating 100 years of Immunology & Cell Biology – a special focus on the field of tumor immunology in Australia

In this Commentary article, as part of the 100-year celebrations of the journal, we reflect on the contribution of articles published in ICB in the field of tumor immunology. A highlight is a series of interviews conducted with three Australian-based ICB authors who have contributed key papers over the years: Rajiv Khanna, Delia Nelson and Ian Frazer.

Research

Comprehensive Testing of Chemotherapy and Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Preclinical Cancer Models Identifies Additive Combinations

Antibodies 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.