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A collaborative team of researchers, including researchers from the Doherty Institute, has been awarded a five-year, $5 million Synergy Grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) to develop a new program of work, exploring interactions between microbiota and T cells to enhance melanoma immunotherapy. 

The project is being led by Professor Shahneen Sandhu, Consultant Medical Oncologist and Research Lead for the Melanoma Medical Oncology Service at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Peter Mac) at the University of Melbourne. The team also includes Professor Sammy Bedoui and Dr Vanessa Marcelino from the Doherty Institute, Professor Tony Papenfuss from WEHI, and Dr Lavina Spain and Professor Grant McArthur from Peter Mac. 

Professor Jane Gunn AO, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, congratulated the team. 

“It’s inspiring to see researchers collaborating across the Doherty Institute, Peter Mac and WEHI,” Professor Gunn said.  

“Ensuring a successful project across disciplines and organisations is both challenging and rewarding. It will be fantastic to see the innovative ways this team will improve treatments for cancer patients with melanoma, and the positive effects on our wider community.”  

Preliminary data, generated by Professor Bedoui, Dr Marcelino and Professor Sandhu from cell culture assays, mice and melanoma patients receiving ICI drugs, suggests that immune system T cells are influenced by substances made by bacteria that normally live inside our gut.  

These substances, otherwise known as microbiota-derived metabolites (MDMs), influence how the immune system responds to melanoma. 

“While we often think of bacteria in the context of infections and how they can make us sick, our research will focus on the beneficial bacteria in us and explore ways of harnessing their power to improve immunotherapy,” Professor Bedoui said.    

The team’s goal is to understand how these metabolites enhance how T cells respond to melanoma and assess their potential to improve immunotherapy in the clinic. 

"This field of research is still in its infancy, and we hope that new insights gained from our iterative, clinical, preclinical and bioinformatic studies will translate into therapeutic interventions to improve patient outcomes,” Dr Marcelino said. 

This article was originally published on the MDHS website.