For immediate release: April 17, 2007
Contact: Emily Wofford Cobb
Public Relations Manager
775-784-6006
ecobb@medicine.nevada.edu
School of Medicine Laboratory of Cancer Immunology publishes paper in elite biomedical research journal Nature Medicine
Paper reports paradoxical effects of anti-cancer therapy
RENO, Nev.—Research findings of the University of Nevada School of Medicine Laboratory of Cancer Immunology have been published in the elite biomedical research journal Nature Medicine. Led by William Murphy, Ph.D., the laboratory team’s research paper reported on the seemingly paradoxical effects of cancer immune therapies and was highlighted by the journal with commentary from investigators at the Netherlands Cancer Institute.
The paper reports the team’s principal findings which describe how current cancer treatments that stimulate immune responses and produce an initial, powerful anti-cancer effect can actually compromise the ability of the immune system, in the long run, to generate long-lasting effects. The rapid anti-cancer effects triggered by agents that stimulate the immune system are produced by a type of lymphocyte that can directly attack and eliminate tumor cells. Many researchers and clinicians feel that the use of the immune system provides the best chance for successful eradication of a cancer tumor. However, the research team’s study published in Nature Medicine demonstrated that if the initial anti-tumor responses were not complete that the immune system would, essentially, start to “turn itself off.” The researchers argue this effect may explain why many clinical therapies involving immune attack may lead initially to positive responses from cancer patients, but ultimately fail in that the cancer eventually returns. The study also demonstrated potential means in which clinicians could bypass the negative effect of immune attack therapy.
“These studies could have an immediate impact on clinical trials involving immune therapy,” said Doug Redelman, Ph.D., professor of physiology at the University of Nevada School of Medicine and co-author of the report.
The study, which involved a complex series of experiments, was a collaboration among investigators from the University of Nevada School of Medicine, the University of Minnesota and the National Cancer Institute. Investigators from the University of Nevada School of Medicine include: Murphy, Redelman, Vanessa Berner, Ph.D., Haiyan Liu, Ph.D., Kai Sun, Ph.D., Lisbeth Welniak, Ph.D. and Qing Zhou, Ph.D. Kory Alderson, a doctoral student in the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, also assisted in the study.
In addition to the team’s research findings being published in Nature Medicine, Redelman and Alderson recently presented the study’s findings at the prestigious international Keystone Symposia held in Banff, Canada.
“I am extremely proud of the study compiled by our research team,” said Murphy, who is the senior author of the study. “It was a total team effort that took a tremendous amount of work and we hope that it contributes to improving the clinical treatment of cancer.”
The study was supported through research grants from the National Institutes of Health.
As the state’s only public medical school, the University of Nevada School of Medicine has been meeting statewide healthcare, educational, and clinical needs since 1969. The School of Medicine encompasses 16 clinical medical education departments, including Family Medicine, Pediatrics, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Internal Medicine, Surgery, and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, as well as ten nationally-recognized departments within basic science including microbiology and biomedical engineering. As the largest multi-specialty healthcare focus within the state, the School of Medicine employs more than 185 doctors who both teach and practice medicine throughout Nevada. The school’s statewide faculty physician practice group has a combined 25 different medical specialties with seven physician practice offices located in the Reno-Sparks area and five physician offices located in Las Vegas.
The University of Nevada School of Medicine utilizes a best-practice approach to medicine and is committed to addressing the health needs of Nevada now and in the future. For more information, please visit www.medicine.nevada.edu .
###