23 Aug 2016
ICI 2016 Day 1: insight by Dr Matthew Pitman
Dr Matthew Pitman, a PhD student in the Lewin/Cameron Lab at the Doherty Institute, reports on day 1 of the International Congress of Immunology 2016 (ICI 2016) in Melbourne.
The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) is abuzz this week with close to 4,000 of the world’s best minds gathered for ICI2016 to hear the latest scientific developments, catch up with old friends, develop new collaborations and escape from the daily grind of the lab.
Day 1 began with a fantastic plenary sponsored by the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre on ‘Cancer Immunotherapy’. The first speaker, Professor James Allison from M.D. Anderson Cancer Centre, Texas, USA, is a giant in immunology. Best known for his work on immune checkpoint markers in cancer (cell receptors which prevent immune cells from attacking cancer), he gave an excellent review of the history and future of immune checkpoint blockers and prospects for cancer cure. Whilst there are already immune checkpoint blockers in clinical use for some cancers, he predicted that the next step will be looking at the role of combinations of these drugs in other cancers that don’t respond to single drugs.
The next speaker, Professor Ian Frazer, an immunology giant from Brisbane, Australia, is best known for inventing the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine, which prevents genital warts and cervical cancer. Unfortunately, the vaccine doesn’t help those already infected by cancer-inducing strains of HPV. Professor Frazer spoke about his latest research efforts to cure cancers caused by HPV, which comprise 5.2% of all cancers. He presented elegant work suggesting that immune cell production of a molecule called interferon gamma is preventing the immune system from clearing HPV by increasing an immune checkpoint marker called PD-1. There are ongoing trials looking at the role of antibodies against PD-1 in HPV cancers.
The third speaker, Ana Anderson, Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, gave a fascinating talk on her research showing that immune checkpoint markers may not be the best receptors to block in cancer because they have an important role in immune regulation when cells are activated. Rather, her research has discovered that another molecule, metallothionein 1, which regulates zinc levels, is associated with impaired immune responses but is not linked with cell activation. In mice missing this gene there is improved immunity against tumours. Metallothionein 1 represents an exciting new target for drug development against cancer.
The afternoon HIV session held a number of talks by up and coming scientists from the Doherty Institute. Matthew Worley, PhD student from Professor Stephen Kent’s laboratory, presented evidence suggesting that neutrophils (‘pus’ cells) are able to rapidly phagocytose (or ingest) and kill HIV infected cells with antibodies bound to them (a process known as antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity or ADCC). Given the abundance of neutrophils in the body, this may be very important in the immune response to HIV.
Dr Vijaya Madhavi, a postpoctoral fellow also from Professor Kent’s lab, showed that elite controllers (HIV-infected patients who spontaneously suppress their virus to undetectable levels) have more effective ADCC responses than other patients. ADCC responses also appear to correlate with protection in HIV vaccine studies.
Hyon-Xhi Tan, PhD student yet again from Professor Kent’s lab, showed that immunising mice with a mutated flu virus that he engineered led to the presence of immune cells against HIV in the epithelium (lining) of the vagina, an important advance as this is the frontline of defence for females.
Finally, Dr Cody Allison, a postdoctoral fellow from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, presented exciting early data on birinapant, a drug which preferentially kills cells that are signalling through TNF-alpha receptor (a molecule that is increased in HIV-infected cells). He showed that birinapant can reduce the amount of residual HIV in HIV-infected mice with a human immune system on HIV treatment.
A number of speakers have commented on how excited they are to be in Australia and in particular in our beautiful city of Melbourne. Let’s just hope the weather improves! Four more exciting days ahead.