Grant: Project Grant

It is now appreciated that the immune system plays an important role in controlling cancer progression. Recent work in understanding how T cells respond to the tumour microenvironment has led to transformative therapies - so called "immune checkpoint blockade" therapies - used to treat cancer by unleashing anti-tumour immune responses. However, inflammation is a double-edged sword. Tumour-associated inflammation has been shown to be an important contributing factor to cancer progression. Understanding how inflammation is regulated in the tumour microenvironment may help us to design rational therapies that circumvent the tumour-promoting effects of inflammation while maintaining or enhancing anti-tumour immune responses. Current models propose that immune cell interaction with the tumour microenvironment promotes cancer-associated inflammation. Our results indicate that the tumour suppressor LKB1, mutated in multiple cancers including lung, breast, and pancreatic cancer, can regulate tumour-intrinsic and tumour-extrinsic effects on cancer-associated inflammation. This proposal investigates the role that inflammation controlled by LKB1 has on cancer development and progression, and whether we can use existing drugs to block inflammation and reduce cancer incidence.