Research News
Seeing how we see cancer
A molecular image revealing the interaction between skin cancer cells and T-cells – the cells which protect our body against disease - has been produced by the School of Medicine.
NEW - Molecular structure of the best-studied human cancer T cell antigen revealed
We have used X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of the best ever studied human cancer antigen in complex with a human T-cell receptor. This 'antigen' molecule is upregulated on the surface of human melanoma cells and enables killer T-cells to identify and eliminate these cancerous cells using their T-cell receptor. We anticipate wide interest in this structure as it is only the second human cancer/T-cell receptor complex ever solved. Our T-cells are really designed to eliminate 'foreign molecules' and they are crucial for the elimination of pathogens. T-cells perform less well at eliminating cancer as cancer cells are derived from our own tissue and pose the immune system a greater challenge. A link to the paper, published online at The Journal of Biological Chemistry can be found below:
Cole DK, Yuan F, Rizkallah PJ, Miles JJ, Gostick E, Price DA, Gao GF, Jakobsen BK, Sewell AK.
Germline-governed recognition of a cancer epitope by an immunodominant human T-cell receptor.
Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2009 July. Ahead of Print.
Visualising cancer interactions
A molecular image revealing the interaction between skin cancer cells and T-cells – the cells which protect our body against disease - has been produced by the School of Medicine.
An Immunologists 10 commandments (Immunology News)
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Advances HIV
Download the Spring 2009 edition of Advances - The Journals for Science, Engineering and Technology in Wales
TOP STORY - Bionic T-cells kill HIV
We have recently published a groundbreaking study in Nature Medicine that utilises engineered T-cells which can target and kill all natural escape variants of HIV in vitro. This discovery has attracted worldwide interests and has been covered by a number of mainstream publications and news broadcasters!! Links can be found below:
