I was honoured as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) at government house this week, in esteemed company! @WEHI_research @Prof_G_McArthur Jane Gunn @UniMelbMDHS Jane Hemstrich @Kate_Jenkins_ It takes a village & I am grateful to my family, mentors & colleagues for support

Two big🧠🥼🧠🥼in one 🛩️! Introducing Big Brains in Small Planes - our new video series. 👏Shout out to @DrMistyJenkins (@WEHI_research) for being our inaugural guest. #BBISP #ASI2024SYD @ASImmunology #scicomm

Wonderful to see this important #CART cell therapy study published, offering hope for this devastating disease #dipg Congratulations @michelle_monje and team!

I'm tackling the world’s toughest half marathon, the #PointToPinnacle2024, to fund vital brain cancer research at @BrainCancerCtr. Your support fuels breakthroughs & hope for patients. Every step counts! 🏃‍♀️💪 Donate here:

What a brilliant EANO NeuroOncology Conference in Glasgow -an incredible experience! Inspiring presentations & discussions, plus seeing the @BrainCancerCtr and @Markhughesfdn represented on the global stage. Big thanks to the organisers! @braincancerlab @WEHI_research #EANO2024

Thanks @kamila_marzec for your excellent organising of a terrific conference!

Thanks so much to one of our BCC family and Consumer Group members Sarah Kelly for her advocacy in raising awareness and the urgent need for increased funding to brain cancer research. Thanks to Sarah’s incredible efforts, we were thrilled to welcome an engaged group of MPs to

Here’s a closer look at “EphA3-targeted chimeric antigen receptor T cells are effective in glioma and generate curative memory T cell responses by @leesa_lerts, Melinda Iliopoulos, Stacie S. Wang, Sarah J. McArthur, @lisamebert, @dralexdav, @drendersby, @auscancadoc, Katharine J.

This work can only happen with support from our generous funders including @nhmrc @BrainCancerCtr @carriesB4BC @_IsabellaMarcus @_RCDFoundation @VPCCresearch @BickmoreCarrie #CARTcells #braincancer #immunotherapy

https://t.co/AIjbsRuRtJ

This preclinical data shows the robust efficacy of EphA3-targeted CAR T cells and provides evidence of long-term persistence and ability to protect against a second tumour challenge. Clinical trials will be required to determine the real-world benefits of this treatment.

These mice achieved complete tumour clearance and maintained this response six months following treatment.

CAR T cells remained detectable in the peripheral blood of long-term survivors 9 weeks post-treatment with the EphA3-targeted CAR T cells. Long-term survivors were rechallenged intracranially with a second tumour to assess the remaining CAR T cells' functional capacity.

https://t.co/1gwUe0XQKv

This robust anti-tumour effect was also observed in an adult glioblastoma mouse model, with mice exhibiting tumour eradication within four weeks post-treatment. This led to a sustained complete response and significant survival benefit over controls.

In a xenograft mouse model, these human EphA3-targeted CAR T cells were effective against paediatric diffuse midline gliomas.

The second-generation EphA3-targeted CAR T cell demonstrated antigen-specific cytotoxicity and cytokine production against high-grade glioma models using in vitro assays.

Ephrin-type A receptor 3, EphA3, was identified as a prevalently expressed target across glioma patient samples via cell surface proteomics of primary samples and RNA sequencing data obtained via public databases.

We performed cell surface proteomics of adult and paediatric brain cancer patient samples to identify abundant and widely expressed antigens. We identified EphA3 as a suitable target and developed a novel EphA3-targeted CAR T cell treatment for brain cancer.

High-grade brain cancers remain lethal as current treatments offer limited efficacy. Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell therapies are a promising strategy to address this. However, selecting the optimal antigen remains challenging in achieving long-term clinical outcomes.

Led by @WEHI_research @BrainCancerCtr this was a collaboration with @RCHMelbourne @TheRMH @SAPathology @UniofAdelaide @telethonkidsCC