Immunovirology

Laboratory Head   

Professor Andreas Suhrbier

Summary

The Immunovirology Laboratory is developing and exploiting knowledge about interactions between viruses and the immune system to develop new anti-cancer, antiviral and anti-inflammation strategies.

The laboratory has helped to develop a number of patented therapeutic technologies in collaboration with Australian and overseas pharmaceutical companies.

The search for role of SerpinB2 in inflammatory disease has been a major theme of the laboratory for several years. This protein is present during nearly all forms of inflammation. 

Work on mosquito-borne viruses has been a long standing research field for the laboratory with work on Ross River fever and chikungunya virus, illustrating the importance of immune cells, called macrophages, in the development of arthritis. The research aims to understand how the disease is caused and develop new strategies for treatment. 

The laboratory has a long-standing research collaboration with Peplin Ltd to investigate the activity of ingenol mebutate, a new topical drug being tested in Phase II trials for the treatment of sunspots (actinic keratosis) and skin cancer (squamous cell carcinoma). The laboratory has also conducted work in collaboration with CBio Ltd on Chaperone 10 (Cpn10), a new anti-inflammatory protein that has shown success in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis in clinical trials. 

Conditions researched

• Mosquito-borne viruses (Ross River, chikungunya)
• HIV
• Inflammatory diseases
• Skin cancers (including squamous cell carcinoma and actinic keratosis)

Current research

• Investigating the role of SerpinB2 (Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor Type-2) during inflammation and its potential role in regulating the adaptive immune responses
• Investigating chikungunya virus and Ross River virus disease – utilising mouse models to understand how these virus causes arthritis. Evidence suggests that the disease is caused by the persistent productive infection of macrophages in the joints and the release of pro-inflammatory mediators.
• Investigating the mechanisms of action of Cpn10, a proprietary drug developed by C-Bio limited as an immunomodulator for inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis
• Investigation the mechanisms of action of topical ingenol mebutate treatment in animal models of squamous cell carcinomas, including the role of neutrophils.

Staff

Laboratory Head: Professor Andreas Suhrbier

Postdoctoral staff: Dr Wayne Schroder, Dr Itaru Anraku, Dr Sarah-Jane Cozzi, Dr Lee Major

Laboratory Manager: Joy Gardner

Research Assistants: Thuy TT Le, Cini James

Visiting scientists: Dr Alex Khromykh, Dr Robert Sla

Funding

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the following funding agencies:

• National Heath and Medical Council 
• National Cancer Institute, NIAID, USA.
• Australian Centre for International and Tropical Health and Nutrition
• Australian Research Council Linkage
• Australian Centre for HIV and Hepatitis
• Australian Vaccine Centre

Collaborators

Dr A. Khromykh, The University of Queensland

Dr Suresh Mahalingam, University of Canberra, ACT

Dr Robert Medcalf, Monash University, Australia

Dr Ranjeny Thomas, Diamantina Institute, Brisbane

Dr Pierre Roques, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique, Paris, France.

Dr Bali Pulendran, Emory Vaccine Center, USA

Current commercial associations

Peplin Biotech, Brisbane, Qld, Australia

C-Bio, Brisbane, Qld, Australia

GenPhar Inc, Mt Pleasant, USA