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Cancer and immunity research bring top honours to WEHI

Research into blood cancers and immune system regulation has today seen two WEHI scientists recognised in the 2009 Victorian Premier’s Awards for Public Health and Medical Research.

Dr Kylie Mason has received the Premier’s top award for her research into blood disorders, particularly leukaemia and lymphoma. The award is presented annually to an outstanding Victorian postgraduate health or medical researcher. In conjunction with Dr Mason's Premier's Award, the $30,000 Jack and Robert Smorgon Families Award was presented to the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute to acknowledge its contribution to health and medical research in Victoria.

Dr Anna Proietto from the division of Immunology received one of three commendation awards.

Dr Mason’s research has shown that adding a new class of anti-cancer drugs, called the BH3 mimetics, to standard chemotherapy can help eradicate a blood cancer in mice that is similar to Burkitt’s lymphoma in humans. A similar drug is now undergoing clinical trials in patients with leukaemia at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and at hospitals in the US and Europe.

In the course of her research into BH3 mimetics, Dr Mason also discovered that the life-span of platelets is determined by the balance between two proteins - Bcl-xL and Bak. Platelets are specialised cells that clot the blood to prevent bleeding, and platelet transfusions are often required by cancer patients who are undergoing chemotherapy.

An undesirable side-effect of cancer chemotherapy can be extensive bruising and potentially life-threatening bleeding, Dr Mason, who is also a consultant haematologist at the Royal Melbourne and Western Hospitals, said. “The bleeding and bruising is caused by the unintended depletion of platelets, which are essential for blood clotting and wound healing,” she said.

“The well-being of some patients depends upon platelet transfusions, particularly during the vulnerable period that follows anti-cancer treatment. The significant demand for high quality platelets, coupled with their short shelf-life of only five days, presents major logistical challenges in clinical practice.”

Dr Mason’s findings on how platelet lifespan is controlled could allow the development of techniques, such as by the Australian Red Cross Blood Service, that prolong the lifespan of blood bank platelets, thereby increasing their availability to patients receiving cancer treatment.

Dr Proietto is investigating the role of dendritic cells in preventing auto-immune diseases, diseases such as multiple sclerosis or type 1 diabetes where the body attacks its own cells.

“Dendritic cells are crucial to the body’s immune response as they present the proteins of invading pathogens on their cell surface so these foreign proteins can be attacked by the immune system,” Dr Proietto said.

“In auto-immune diseases the body’s own proteins are attacked by immune cells called self-reactive lymphocytes. This occurs when the self-reactive lymphocytes are either not removed during their development in the thymus, or are not properly controlled by regulatory cells if they escape out of the thymus.”

Through animal studies, Dr Proietto has found a special population of dendritic cells in the thymus is responsible for eliminating most of these self-reactive lymphocytes as well as the development of the regulatory cells that control any ‘escapees’.

“These findings provide insight into the causes and prevention of auto-immune diseases but must now be extended to human dendritic cells for future clinical applications,” she said.

High-resolution images available upon request.

The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute is one of the world’s leading biomedical research centres.

Established in 1915 and affiliated with The University of Melbourne and The Royal Melbourne Hospital, the Institute’s mission is ‘Mastery of Disease through Discovery’. Its world-renowned research teams have been responsible for breakthrough science and pioneering therapies that have changed the face of disease and human health worldwide.

Today they are focused on four big global medical challenges: cancer, immunity, autoimmunity and infectious diseases. The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute is located at Parkville, Victoria where it will soon be housed in a state-of-the-art new building.

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