“When you get something this exciting,
you can’t believe you’ve found it”
Associate Professor Michelle Wykes leads the Molecular Immunology Group at QIMR Berghofer. She has worked at the Institute for over 20 years, investigating how our immune systems respond to the challenge of disease.
THE DISCOVERY
I simply could not believe what I’d found – could this be cancer’s vulnerability? The discovery came as I investigated how the immune system responded to malaria. I wanted to help half a million children who die every year from this dreadful illness. I never thought it would lead to new hope for breast and colorectal cancer treatment. Finding this potential ‘Masterswitch’ which turns on the body’s dendritic cells, central to the body’s immune response, was incredibly exciting. We thought we could use this switch to turn on the body’s fighter T-cells to recognise and attack cancer cells.
The pre-clinical laboratory results were simply breathtaking. We started with Micro Satellite Stable (MSS) bowel cancers, responsible for about 80 percent of all bowel cancers. Those who have this type of cancer have very few good treatment options and outcomes sadly reflect this. It’s the same for people diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer, the treatment options are just not good. To our amazement, results obtained in pre-clinical laboratory work showed an 80 percent success rate clearing the cancers! And after ten months, it hadn’t grown back. The next step was to see whether results could be repeated in blood samples from metastatic colon cancer patients at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. They showed the same stunning results.
With your help, we can progress this vital research and other exciting medical breakthroughs, providing real hope to patients and their loved ones.
THE MASTERSWITCH
THE HOPE
“The thing that’s hardest about stage-four bowel cancer is you’re given zero hope. Zero.”
We are in awe of the courage and positivity of Justine Dillon. At the peak of physical fitness as a pilates and dance instructor, Justine was struck down with highly aggressive stage-four bowel cancer and told she had just 18 months to live.
Existing immunotherapy was ruled out and her only chance of survival rested with chemotherapy. But Justine is a fighter and she grasped the challenge to defy the odds and be the miracle survivor, if not for herself, then for her partner and 6-year-old son.
Justine is now cancer-free but she knows her long-term survival may rely on medical research. That’s why she’s given a blood sample to be tested by Associate Professor Michelle Wykes’ research team. She’s determined to help make the groundbreaking work at QIMR Berghofer a reality.
Justine hopes that one day very soon, no one with bowel cancer will be told they’re going to die.
“I said I will be that miracle. Just watch me.”
“Being able to say we can get rid of your cancer
is a dream for me.”
Associate Professor Melissa Eastgate
Deputy Director of Medical Oncology, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.
It’s a very tough conversation to have, when you have to tell someone their cancer is not curable. Every day I see people who are desperately ill with the ‘untalked about’ bowel cancer. It’s quite often deadly and we haven’t seen the huge improvements in survival that other cancers have seen. People come to me after their diagnosis, they are devastated, and they just can’t believe there isn’t a better treatment. It is quite simply heartbreaking.
With your help, we can progress Associate Professor Wykes’s exciting research discovery, and others like it, to help patients and their families by providing the gift of hope this Christmas.
THE TEAM
 |
 |
 |
 |
| This could be a real game changer on how we treat cancer patients in the future. I won’t give up.”
Associate Professor |
“For me, it’s personal. My partner’s family have all had breast cancer. We might be able to end this suffering for good.”
Dr Rebecca |
“It’s a great scientific discovery, really exciting and challenging at the same time. The lab results look very promising.”
Deshapriya |
“If we don’t have enough funding, the project might stop. We are so close. We need to keep going.”
Ji Liu |
Your generous gift will be used to progress important medical research at QIMR Berghofer,
such as that of Associate Professor Michelle Wykes.
Donation Gift Card
Give Give hope this Christmas. Donate on behalf of your loved ones to our life-saving work.
Thank you for your support of our amazing research outcomes.
“When you get something this exciting,
you can’t believe you’ve found it”
Associate Professor Michelle Wykes (pictured on the right) leads the Molecular Immunology Group at QIMR Berghofer. She has worked at the Institute for over 20 years, investigating how our immune systems respond to the challenge of disease. Her work focuses on understanding dendritic cells, which are an immune cell central to the body’s immune responses.
THE DISCOVERY
I simply could not believe what I’d found – could this be cancer’s vulnerability? The discovery came as I investigated how the immune system responded to malaria. I wanted to help the half a million children who die every year from this dreadful illness. I never thought it would lead to new hope for breast and colorectal cancer treatment. Finding this potential ‘Masterswitch’ which turns on the body’s dendritic cells, central to the body’s immune response, was incredibly exciting. We thought we could use this switch to turn on the body’s fighter T-cells to recognise and attack cancer cells.
The pre-clinical laboratory results were simply breathtaking. We started with Micro Satellite Stable (MSS) bowel cancers, responsible for about 80 percent of all bowel cancers. Those who have this type of cancer have very few good treatment options and outcomes sadly reflect this. It’s the same for people diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, the treatment options are just not good. To our amazement, results obtained in pre-clinical laboratory work showed an 80 percent success rate clearing the cancers! And after ten months, it hadn’t grown back.
The next step was to see whether results could be repeated in blood samples from metastatic colon cancer patients at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. They showed the same stunning results.
We have found something capable of starting an immune war. So rather than just depending on drugs for treatment, we hope to train our own immune system to control cancer permanently.
I really feel the frustration of patients I meet. They are desperately seeking a treatment and I think we may have one, but it needs further development.
With your help, we can progress this vital research and other exciting medical breakthroughs, providing real hope to patients and their loved ones.
A MASTERSWITCH
THE HOPE
“The thing that’s hardest about stage four bowel cancer is you’re given zero hope. Zero.”
Justine Dillion is a pilates and dance instructor. At the peak of physical fitness, she was struck down…. We are in awe of the courage and positivity of Justine Dillon. At the peak of physical fitness as a pilates and dance instructor, Justine was struck down with highly aggressive stage four bowel cancer and told she had just 18 months to live.
Existing immunotherapy was ruled out for her cancer and her only chance of survival rested with the horrendous rigors of chemotherapy. But Justine is a fighter and she grasped the challenge to defy the odds and be the miracle survivor, if not for herself, then for her partner and 6 year old son.
Justine is now cancer-free but she knows her long term survival may rely on medical research and that’s why she’s given a blood sample to be tested by A/Prof. Michelle Wykes’ research team.
An immunotherapy Masterswitch to kill cancer may have spared Justine the physical torture of chemotherapy and that’s why she’s determined to help make it a reality. She hopes that one day very soon, no one with bowel cancer will be told they’re going to die.
“I said I will be that miracle. Just watch me.“
“Being able to say we can get rid of your cancer is a dream for me.”
Associate Professor Melissa Eastgate
Deputy Director of Medical Oncology, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.
It’s a very tough conversation to have, when you have to tell someone their cancer is not curable. Every day I see people who are desperately ill with the ‘untalked about’ bowel cancer. It’s quite often deadly and we haven’t seen the huge improvements in survival that other cancers have seen.
People come to me after their diagnosis, they are devastated, and they just can’t believe there isn’t a better treatment. It is quite simply heartbreaking.
THE TEAM
 |
| This could be a real game changer on how we treat cancer patients in the future. I won’t give up.”
Associate Professor |
 |
| “For me, it’s personal. My partner’s family have all had breast cancer. We might be able to end this suffering for good.”
Dr Rebecca |
 |
| “It’s a great scientific discovery, really exciting and challenging at the same time. The lab results look very promising.”
Deshapriya |
 |
| “If we don’t have enough funding, the project might stop. We are so close. We need to keep going.”
Ji Liu |
Your generous gift will be used to progress important medical research at QIMR Berghofer, such as that of Associate Professor Michelle Wykes.
Donation Gift Card
Give Give hope this Christmas. Donate on behalf of your loved ones to our life-saving work.