Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

The immune system has various on/off switches built into it. When working properly, they can turn on the immune response to ward off infection and other unwanted elements from the body. If the switch is left in either the "on" or "off" position for too long, or is somehow forced into that position by a foreign element in the body, the immune system can become a contributor to the overall disease. An over active, uncontrolled immune system with the switch constantly turned "on" can lead to all sorts of health problems such as allergies and autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis. In Multiple Sclerosis, it is becoming evident that an immune response constantly in the "on" position causes the nerve damage and results in disease. This project will explore a potential treatment that we believe can restore the "off" switch in these patients and hopefully bring balance back to their immune systems. A contrasting disease where a constant "off" position is the cause of disease is cancer. This happens when the immune system fails to respond appropriately to the uncontrolled growth of a tumour. Normally most tumours are cleared by the immune system in their infancy before reaching a detectable size. However if cancer can establish itself, it has actually been shown to force the immune system into an "off" state. I will be exploring an experimental treatment that we hope can overcome the "off" condition imposed by cancer and allow the immune system to once again target tumours. Understanding and developing the pharmaceutical ability to control this on/off switch would ultimately give us the ability to control many diseases that involve the immune system. This control could also be extended to turn off the immune system during organ transplantation and other diseases where an immune response can be more harmful than helpful.