Inflammation Biology

Group Leader

Professor Andreas Suhrbier

Summary

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

Work alphaviruses that cause arthritis such as chikungunya virus and Ross River virus has been a long standing research field for the laboratory. These viruses cause protracted rheumatic disease in humans and the research aims to understand how the disease is caused in order that better treatment strategies can be developed. The lab has also been involved in the preclinical testing of a number of new chikungunya virus vaccines.

The search for the physiological role of SerpinB2 in inflammatory disease has been a major theme of the laboratory for several years. This protein is abundant during nearly all forms of inflammation, but exactly what it does remains a mystery.

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

The laboratory has a long-standing research collaboration with Peplin Ltd (now wholly owned by LEO Pharma) to investigate the activity of ingenol mebutate, a new topical drug for the treatment of sunspots (actinic keratosis) recently given FDA approval. The laboratory is also collaborating with CBio Ltd. on chaperonin 10 (Cpn10), a new immunomodulating drug being developed for rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory diseases.

Conditions researched

• HIV
• Inflammatory diseases
• Mosquito-borne viruses (Ross River, chikungunya)
• 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.
• Pancreatic cancer and Sin1
  

Staff

Group Leader: Professor Andreas Suhrbier

Postdoctoral staff: Dr Wayne Schroder, Dr Itaru Anraku, Dr Lee Major

Laboratory Manager: Joy Gardner

Research Assistants: Thuy TT Le, Tom Partridge

Visiting scientist: Dr Sarah-Jane Cozzi

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, University of Queensland.

Dr G Pijlman, Wageningen University, Holland.

Dr F de Gruijl, Leiden University, Holland.

Dr B Su, Yale University School of Medicine, USA

Dr Helder Nakaya and Bali Pulendran, Emory Vaccine Center, USA

Dr Suresh Mahalingam, Griffith University.

Current commercial associations

LEO Pharma, Copenhagen, Denmark

C-Bio, Brisbane, Qld, Australia