A world-first clinical trial and research into a new drug
class to fight blood cancers has earned Dr Jake Shortt a competitive Victorian
Cancer Agency (VCA) Fellowship worth $750,468 over four years.
The Eva & Les Erdi Snowdome / VCA Fellowship will enable
Jake to investigate awakening dormant genes to help the immune system fight
blood cancers.
A Monash Health consultant haematologist and School of
Clinical Sciences’ adjunct senior lecturer, Jake is an internationally
recognised translational clinician scientist in malignant haematology.
“Blood cancers switch off normal genes that normally
cause them to die and also produce signals that camouflage them from the immune
system,” said Jake. “We are investigating a new drug class that switches normal
genes back on in cancer cells.”
Switching on the normal genes results in cancer cell
suicide and removes the immune-camouflage, activating the immune system to
fight the cancer.
“In a world-first clinical trial, we will perform
laboratory experiments and follow blood cancer patients receiving this new
treatment to monitor its effects on the immune system and help predict who will
benefit most,” added Jake.
Led by Jake, the collaborative research project between
Monash Haematology and Peter Mac Research will investigate how a new class of
epigenetic drug called 'bromodomain inhibitors' interact with the immune system
to engage anti-tumour responses.
“Importantly, I would like to acknowledge the significant
contribution of the Co-Investigators on this grant, including School of
Clinical Sciences’ Dr George Grigoriadis, Professor Eric Morand and Dr Ashish
Banerjee,” said Jake.
No comments:
Post a Comment