A leading Brisbane-based team has presented cutting-edge cancer research findings at the world’s largest cancer research conference in Chicago this past week, highlighting how immune cells can block the body’s response to immunotherapy in aggressive head and neck cancers.
Researchers, Associate Professor Arutha Kulasinghe, Dr Meg Donovan and Dr James Monkman from the Wesley Research Institute’s Queensland Spatial Biology Centre (QSBC) were invited to deliver oral presentations and scientific posters at the 2025 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting – a global stage attended by more than 23,000 oncology experts. Their work places Queensland research at the forefront of global innovation in cancer research.
The centrepiece of their presentations is a newly published study that uncovers why some patients with head and neck cancer fail to respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) – drugs that are otherwise transforming cancer care.
“This is a proud moment for Queensland science,” said Dr Kulasinghe. “To be invited to share our findings in Chicago alongside the world’s top cancer researchers is an important recognition of our team’s research – and of the growing global relevance of Australian medical research.”
Featured Work
Head and Neck Cancer
Researchers at QSBC have uncovered a crucial factor that determines whether patients with head and neck cancer will respond to immunotherapy – a finding that could pave the way for more effective treatments and improved survival rates.
The study has revealed that the presence of dense layers of macrophages – immune cells that typically engulf and destroy harmful invaders – may actually create a barrier that prevents immune cells from attacking the tumour. This immune blockade appears to be a key factor in why some patients fail to respond to ICI (Immune checkpoint inhibitors) therapy.
They discovered that in patients who did not respond well to immunotherapy, certain immune cells called macrophages formed dense layers around the tumour, acting as a barrier that blocked the body’s natural immune defences. In contrast, patients who responded positively to treatment had clusters of B and T cells – key immune defenders – gathering at the tumour’s edge, helping to mount a stronger attack against the cancer.
Read the Publication – https://translational-medicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12967-025-06186-y
Skin Cancer
Discovery Protein Atlas analysis of skin cancer reveals biomarkers linked to immunotherapy response and resistance.
The team analysed the tumour microenvironment in skin cancer patients, profiling thousands of individual proteins visually in tissue to identify key differences between those who respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and those who do not. This study marks an important advancement in our ability to understand and potentially predict responses to immunotherapy.
Check out some of the photos from their Chicago trip below.
