Translational Cancer Immunology

Addressing Immune Resistance and Reason to Believe

Cancer scientists have recognized an emerging hallmark of cancer referred to as immune evasion, or as immune resistance—the ability for cancer cells to evade the immune system.

Although considerable progress has been made in understanding how cancers induce immune evasion, thus causing resistance to treatment interventions, including immunotherapy, additional research is still needed. Following immunotherapeutic interventions, indeed only 30% of cancer patients respond optimally, thus demonstrating the urgency to explore the underlying reasons leading to such phenomena more in depth.

At the Saint John’s Cancer Institute, the Rosalie and Harold Rae Brown Cancer Immunotherapy Research Program is addressing this problem by enabling high throughput immune fingerprints (molecular functional profiles), at baseline and following therapeutic interventions, to facilitate precision medicine and help select: (i) patients who benefit most to treatment interventions, (ii) treatments that are most appropriate and effective for patients.

Our immune system can recognize what is normal and what is foreign in our body. As such, our immune cells are regularly trained to fight everything that is not part of our self. One of the reasons why cancer cells can grow and multiply without being challenged is because our immune system doesn’t recognize the development of cancer cells as something strange. This phenomenon is referred to as immune evasion or immune escape–cancer cells escaping or evading the immune system.

By focusing on what is causing evasion, will help guide better treatment and management of cancer progression. It is therefore important to assess each individual case because immune evasion in one patient can be different from what is causing immune evasion in another. It is the fundamental principle of precision immunology and medicine—identifying the inhibitors of immune response at the patient level.

Immunology Program Funding

The Translational Immunology Research department is proudly supported by Rosalie and Harold Rae Brown Cancer Immunotherapy Research Program. The Rosalie and Harold Rae Brown Cancer Immunotherapy Research Program provides collaborative services and solutions for our centers of excellence, which includes clinical teams for melanoma, breast, endocrine, neurosciences, and other types of cancer. Together, we develop immunology therapeutics designed for each patient’s specific attributes, working to improve outcomes and quality of life. Immunology therapeutics are developed here at the Saint John’s Cancer Institute—a premier research facility that is actively partnering with academic and industry organizations around the world.