Our research into immunotherapy
Some of our researchers are working on a new type of cancer treatment called ‘immunotherapy’. This exciting approach aims to harness the specificity and power of the body’s immune system to target and destroy cancer cells.
Scientists in this field are working on a variety of ways to boost the immune system’s anti-tumour responses. These range from monoclonal antibodies to cancer vaccines that are being designed to treat a range of different cancer types. Some of these immunotherapies are being tested in early-phase clinical trials.
Other research teams are supporting these efforts by working to understand in greater detail how the body’s immune system fights infection. This knowledge will help to improve the design of new immunotherapies in the future.
You can find out more about immunotherapy in our Learn about cancer section, or visit MyProjects to donate directly to our immunotherapy research in London and Southampton.
Below are some highlights of our immunotherapy research portfolio.
On this page
Lymphoma
Prof Peter Johnson
Cancer Research UK Medical Oncology Unit
University of Southampton, Southampton
Developing new cancer treatments
Professor Peter Johnson is the Cancer Research UK's Chief Clinician, and directs the Southampton Cancer Research UK Centre. He is helping to shape the future of our clinical research across the UK. Professor Johnson is a leading expert in lymphoma - a cancer that affects the body's white blood cells. He's also working on new treatments that use the power of the body's own immune system to attack tumours.
Prof Christian Ottensmeier
Cancer Sciences Division, School of Medicine
University of Southampton, Southampton
Cancer vaccines - harnessing the immune system to fight cancer
Professor Christian Ottensmeier and his team based at Southampton General Hospital are at the forefront of research into cancer vaccines. This novel approach to cancer treatment aims to stimulate the body's own immune system to recognise and kill the cancer cells. The technique is being tested as a treatment for cancers such as lymphoma and myeloma.
Myeloma
Prof Paul Moss
School of Cancer Sciences
University of Birmingham, Birmingham
Understanding the development of myeloma
Professor Paul Moss heads the School of Cancer Sciences in Birmingham and directs the city's Cancer Research UK Centre. He is investigating why bone marrow cells called plasma cells sometimes multiply out of control, leading to a type of cancer known as myeloma.
Prof Christian Ottensmeier
Cancer Sciences Division, School of Medicine
University of Southampton, Southampton
Cancer vaccines - harnessing the immune system to fight cancer
Professor Christian Ottensmeier and his team based at Southampton General Hospital are at the forefront of research into cancer vaccines. This novel approach to cancer treatment aims to stimulate the body's own immune system to recognise and kill the cancer cells. The technique is being tested as a treatment for cancers such as lymphoma and myeloma.
No specific cancer type
Dr Facundo Batista
Lymphocyte Interaction Laboratory
London Research Institute, London
Investigating immune cells in cancer
Dr Facundo Batista's Lymphocyte Interaction Laboratory is based at the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute. His research focuses on understanding how our immune system responds to infections and cancer.
Dr Stephen Beers
Tenovus Research Laboratory
Southampton General Hospital, Southampton
Turning the power of the immune system on cancer
Dr Stephen Beers is working on immunotherapy - a type of treatment that encourages the body's own immune system to fight cancer. He is investigating how to make these treatments more effective. Dr Beers is based in Southampton, which is one of the UK’s leading centres for immunotherapy research.
Professor Vincenzo Cerundolo
Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine
University of Oxford, Oxford
Boosting the immune system to treat cancer
Based at the University of Oxford, Professor Vincenzo Cerundolo is an expert in immunotherapy – treatments that harness a patient’s own immune system to destroy tumours. Immunotherapy has the potential to be a powerful treatment for cancer, but at the moment it is not as effective as it could be. Professor Cerundolo and his team are working on ways to improve immunotherapy, pushing forward this exciting new treatment to bring benefits to people with cancer.
Professor Tim Elliott
Faculty of Medicine
University of Southampton, Southampton
Focusing the immune system on cancer
Professor Tim Elliott is a leading expert in immunotherapy – treating cancer using the power of the immune system. At the University of Southampton, he and his team are finding out how to make immunotherapy more powerful, to improve the effectiveness of this important new treatment.
Dr Nancy Hogg
Leukocyte adhesion laboratory
London Research Institute, London
How do cancers spread?
One of the things that makes cancer so difficult to treat is that it can spread to other parts of the body - this process is called metastasis. Dr Nancy Hogg and her team at our London Research Institute are studying metastasis using white blood cells, which are part of the immune system.
Prof Tim Illidge
Targeted Therapy Group
Christie Hospital NHS Trust, University of Manchester, Manchester
Harnessing the immune system to treat cancer
Professor Tim Illidge is a Cancer Research UK Senior Clinical Research Fellow at the Christie Hospital in Manchester. His research focuses on developing new cancer treatments with fewer side effects. He is particularly interested in the use of 'immunotherapies', treatments that harness the power of the body's own immune system to fight cancer.
Dr Caetano Reis e Sousa
Immunobiology Laboratory
London Research Institute, London
Investigating our immune system
Dr Caetano Reis e Sousa leads the Immunobiology Laboratory at our London Research Institute. His team is investigating how our immune system detects and responds to infection.
Dr Benjamin Willcox
School of Cancer Sciences
University of Birmingham, Birmingham
The power within: how the immune system targets cancer cells
Dr Benjamin Willcox is based at the University of Birmingham, where he is studying how our immune system protects us against cancer. This exciting and important work should lead to new treatments that can boost the body’s defences against the disease.
Pancreatic cancer
Dr Thorsten Hagemann
Centre for Cancer and Inflammation
Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, London
Reducing inflammation to treat pancreatic cancer
Dr Thorsten Hagemann is a Clinical Lecturer at the Centre for Cancer and Inflammation at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry. He is investigating how cancer cells can cause inflammation, which protects them from being destroyed by the body's immune system. In particular, his research focuses on pancreatic cancer.
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