1. Research Interests: Cancer immunology and immunotherapy
2. Clinical Interests: melanoma and urological cancers of the prostate, bladder, renal system

Research in our laboratory is specifically concentrated on how cancers related to the urinary system-kidney, prostate and bladder- use signalling pathways within the cell, how they interact with their environment (particularly with respect to blood vessel growth), how they are recognised by and interact with the immune system, and how these processes correlate with the clinical outcomes and responses to treatment we observe in these patients.

• Nieroshan Rajarubendra (M.D.)
• Philip Tan (M.D.)
• Carmel Pezaro (M.D.)
• Matt Anaka (Ph.D.)

The LICR Cancer Vaccine Program is recognised as one of the best in the world. We have a strong clinical/laboratory interface allowing basic research questions to be addressed at the same time as we learn in the clinic. We have successfully completed several clinical immunotherapy trials involving peptide and protein cancer antigens, together with various adjuvants including cytokines, growth factors and dendritic cells. The LICR Uro-oncology Lab program extends this work into urologic cancers and asks specific questions about in situ immunity, ie the nature of the immune response within the tumour, as well as looking at the interactions between tumour cells and other cells within the tumour mass.

1. DAVIS ID, Liu Z, Saunders W, Lee F-T, Spirkoska V, Hopkins W, Smyth FE, Chong G, Papenfuss A, Chappell B, Poon A, Saunder T, Hoffman EW, Old LJ and Scott AM. A pilot study of monoclonal antibody cG250 and low dose subcutaneous IL-2 in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma. Cancer Immunity [serial online] 2007; 7:14. URL: http://www.cancerimmunity.org/v7p14/070714.htm

2. DAVIS ID, Wiseman GA, Lee F-T, Gansen DN, Hopkins W, Papenfuss A, Steinmetz S, Ingle J, Croghan GA, Burch PA, Moynihan TJ, Warnaar S, Ullrich S, Hoffman EW, Old LJ and Scott AM. A phase I multiple dose, dose escalation study of cG250 monoclonal antibody in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma. Cancer Immunity [serial online] 2007; 7:13. URL: http://www.cancerimmunity.org/v7p13/070713.htm

3. DAVIS ID, McArthur G, Cebon J, Nicholaou T, Barlow JW, Moeller NPH, Skak K, Lundsgaard D, Frederiksen KS, Thygesen P and Skrumsager BK. Recombinant human interleukin-21 (rIL-21): an open-label, two arm, phase 1 trial in patients with metastatic melanoma. Clinical Cancer Research 13: 3630-6, 2007.

4. DAVIS ID, Chen Q, Morris L, Quirk J, Stanley M, Tavarnesi M, Parente P, Cavicchiolo T, Hopkins W, Jackson H, Dimopoulos N, Tai TY, MacGregor D, Browning J, Svobodova S, Caron D, Maraskovsky E, Old LJ, Chen W and Cebon J. Blood dendritic cells generated with Flt3 ligand and CD40 ligand prime CD8+ T cells efficiently in cancer patients. Journal of Immunotherapy 29: 499-511, 2006.

5. DAVIS ID, Chen W, Jackson H, Parente P, Shackleton M, Hopkins W, Chen Q, Dimopoulos N, Luke T, Murphy R, Scott AM, Maraskovsky E, McArthur G, MacGregor D, Sturrock S, Tai TY, Green S, Cuthbertson A, Maher D, Miloradovic L, Mitchell SV, Ritter G, Jungbluth AA, Chen Y-T, Gnjatic S, Hoffman EW, Old LJ and Cebon JS. Recombinant NY-ESO-1 protein with ISCOMATRIX adjuvant induces broad integrated antibody and CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses in humans. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101:10697-10702, 2004. (Paper featured in media, including Nature News http://www.nature.com/news/2004/040719/full/040719-5.html)

6. Jefford M, Schnurr M, Toy T, Masterman KA, Shin A, Beecroft T, Tai TY, Shortman K, Shackleton M, DAVIS ID, Parente P, Luft T, Chen W, Cebon J and Maraskovsky E. Functional comparison of DC generated in vivo with Flt3 ligand or in vitro from blood monocytes: Differential regulation by specific classes of physiologic stimuli. Blood First Edition Paper, prepublished online May 8, 2003; DOI 10.1182/blood-2002-12-3854.