Immunology studies using healthy volunteer blood v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Immunology studies using healthy volunteer blood
IRAS ID
332617
Contact name
Salim Khakoo
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Southampton
Duration of Study in the UK
9 years, 11 months, 28 days
Research summary
Immunotherapy is an important treatment for cancer. This type of therapy acts by promoting the immune system to destroy cancer cells. Despite great successes with immunotherapy, not all patients respond to this treatment and therefore novel immunotherapies are required. Developing these therapies requires a key understanding of the immune response to cancer. This research study will therefore investigate how immune cells respond to cancer and develop new therapeutic strategies. In order to do this a source of immune cells is required. Immune cells can be obtained from human blood, as such, this research project will use immune cells donated by healthy volunteers.
One focus of our research will be on genetic engineering of immune cells to boost immune cell function against tumours. Genetically engineered immune cells are being tested in early-stage clinical trials for various solid and blood cancers. However, further research to maximise their potential as an anti-cancer therapy is required. Once immune cells have been donated by volunteers, the cells will be genetically modified in the laboratory and used in experiments, including in mouse models of cancer. The use of small animal models is a required step in the drug development process. Hence, this research project will include studies into the effect of novel immunotherapies in mouse models in order to improve the translatability of the designed immunotherapies.
Research questions will aim to understand basic mechanisms of how the immune system recognises and destroys cancer cells and the activity of newly designed therapies will be tested in the laboratory and in animal models. Questions for individual experiments will depend on the nature of the experiment, but basic questions include:
•How does the immune system recognise cancer cells and become activated against them?
•Can the function of immune system be improved with other immunotherapies and/or genetic modification?REC name
London - Surrey Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/PR/0245
Date of REC Opinion
9 Apr 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion