Research - The Malaghan Institute

Malaghan Institute

Medical research is not usually considered creative but the work of the Malaghan Institute, New Zealand’s only independent medical research facility, is both creative and innovative in its approach to medical research.

Based on the campus of Victoria University, the Institute employs over forty full-time scientists dedicated to finding treatments and cures for cancer, asthma, multiple sclerosis, arthritis and infectious diseases.

Outlined below are two key projects the Institute is working on in the field of immunology.

Dendritic Cells

Malaghan Institute

The Vaccine Research Group, headed by Dr Ian Hermans, is working with a vaccine they have developed that teaches the body’s dendritic cells to better recognise and fight tumours. When infection is detected in the body, the dendritic cells migrate to the lymph nodes and instruct the T cells to attack the infection.

However, dendritic cells, the sentinels of the immune system, are not so good at recognising some cancers as dangerous because they are made from our own tissue.

The Malaghan Institute has developed a dendritic cell vaccine currently being trialled on melanoma patients. The trial involves taking cells of the immune system and the tumour from a cancer patient and manipulating the dendritic cells in the laboratory to recognise the cancerous melanoma tumour cells. The ‘smart’ cells are then injected back into the patient, where they can search the body for that specific cancer and instruct immune cells to attack it.

Dr Ritchie’s group has developed a dendritic cell vaccine currently being trialled on melanoma patients. The trial involves taking bone-marrow from a cancer patient and manipulating the dendritic cells in the laboratory to recognise cancerous cells. The ‘smart’ bone-marrow cells are then injected back into the patient, where they can search the body for that specific cancer and instruct immune cells to attack it.

Hygiene Hypothesis

The Asthma Research Group, headed by Malaghan Institute Director Professor Graham Le Gros, is at the leading edge of asthma research, and is renowned internationally for using the contentious Hygiene Hypothesis to develop a unique and effective asthma vaccine. The Hypothesis states the western world has become too clean, so that infants are no longer exposed to infections to fully develop their immune systems.

The immune system remains under-worked, resulting in an over-activation of immune responses to harmless substances such as dust and pollen in the airways.

Professor Le Gros has tested aspects of the Hygiene Hypothesis and made an observation that infection with certain respiratory pathogens can inhibit the development of asthma. Following this he discovered a component in the anti-tuberculosis BCG vaccine that significantly reduces symptoms of asthma.

The Institute is now developing a vaccine that could potentially inhibit asthma.

Professor Le Gros believes the key to fighting illness lies in harnessing the immune system. 'By using techniques to discover how immune reactions are triggered we can control the body’s fighting power at a cellular and molecular level.'

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