Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Investigating how the immune system can contribute to drug resistance in cancerThere are many barriers to successful cancer treatment, including the ability of cancer cells to resist immune destruction and chemotherapy. Normally, immune cells can recognize cancer cells and destroy them. However, tumour cells can evade immune-mediated death by displaying molecules on their surface that inactivate these immune cells. While much is known about how these molecules affect the immune cells, little is known about what happens to the cancer cell. Our research indicates that the interaction of these molecules with immune cells can increase chemoresistance in cancer cells. Based on this, we hypothesize that the interaction between these tumour cell molecules and the immune cells provides tumour cells with resistance to conventional anti-cancer drugs.We have two main objectives in this research project. We want to test if the interaction of these molecules is a way that cancer cells can resist different anti-cancer drugs. We also want to test how this molecule-based chemoresistance is occurring. To reach our goals, we will use cell culture and animal models, as well as pharmacological, biochemical, immunological, and molecular methods. The proposed studies are important because recent advances in immunotherapy of cancer, such as the use of antibodies to prevent escape from adaptive immunity, could be used to enhance chemotherapy of cancer.