IMMUNOLOGY RESEARCH THEME
Our immunology theme aims to characterise immune signatures associated with early cancer development, providing insights to support precision early cancer detection and future intervention strategies.
THEME OVERVIEW
The immune system can detect early cancer changes with remarkable sensitivity, with tumour-specific immune responses often present in blood before symptoms even appear.
Harnessing these signals could transform early detection, but key challenges remain, including distinguishing true cancer signals from background noise and understanding when they first emerge.
This theme focuses on using the adaptive immune system for early detection and is driven by a multidisciplinary cross-centre team with expertise in immunology, genomics, computational biology and AI.
RESEARCH AIMS AND EXPECTED OUTCOMES
Harness the adaptive immune system for cancer early detection by characterising immune signatures associated with the earliest stages of tumour development.
Identify cells responsible for cancer immune surveillance and assess whether they can be detected years before clinical diagnosis through minimally invasive blood tests.
Develop innovative tools that enable personalised immunotherapy for cancer interception and prevention.
Strengthen the translational potential of research outputs through collaborations with academic institutions and industry partners to accelerate the development of preventative vaccines and other innovative early‑detection technologies.
KEY CONTACTS
Jamie Blundell
University of Cambridge International Alliance for Cancer Early Detection (ACED) Centre
Immunology research theme Co-lead
Jamie is a Research Group Leader at the Early Cancer Institute, University of Cambridge. His research interests lie in quantitatively understanding somatic evolution in human tissues and using this understanding to detect cancer earlier.
Rob Bristow
The University of Manchester ACED Centre Director
Immunology research theme Co-lead
Rob is the Director of Cancer Research UK’s Manchester Centre and a Senior Group Leader at their Manchester Institute. He also leads our ACED centre at The University of Manchester. His primary research interests are in tumour hypoxia, DNA damage signalling and repair in tumours, the genomics of sporadic and hereditary prostate cancer progression and treatment response.
Bridget Bannerman
University of Cambridge ACED Centre Programme Manager
Bridget oversees both the immunology and interception research themes and provides operational support for our ACED centre at the University of Cambridge.
OUR RESEARCH PRIORITIES
We're identifying the immune responses that reveal the earliest stages of tumour development. By characterising T cell and B cell receptor repertoires in blood and in tumour tissue, and linking them to paired tumour genomics, we are building a picture of how the immune system engages with cancer long before clinical diagnosis.
Our work has already delivered significant results:
In lung cancer, the team at our University College London ACED Centre has identified neoantigen-reactive CD8 T cells circulating in the blood of patients with pre-invasive lesions, years before invasive disease develops. This finding provides a foundation for novel immune-interception strategies.
A cross-centre collaboration between teams at our centres at the University of Cambridge and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) has shown that T-cell receptors specific to the common glioma mutation IDH1 R132H can be detected in blood. This provides first proof of principle that tumour-antigen-specific receptors in blood can indicate the presence of a tumour.
The team at our University of Cambridge ACED Centre has built the largest publicly available dataset of quantitative T cell receptor binding data to date. This dataset includes more than four million interaction measurements. This resource enables systematic discovery of receptors targeting common hotspot mutations such as BRAF V600E and TP53 R248Q.
OUR APPROACH
How we deliver this research
Our work is powered by a cutting‑edge biobanking platform enriched with genomic and tumour‑ microenvironment annotation. We use this in combination with advanced immunological assays, single‑cell multi‑omics and AI‑driven analysis.
Together, these capabilities enable high‑resolution mapping of immune activity and the identification of signals that may indicate cancer at its earliest stages.
Patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE)
We embed PPIE throughout our research to ensure it reflects real‑world needs and perspectives. Our PPIE champions support this work, helping to guide the design and delivery of the immunology theme.
EXPLORE OUR OTHER RESEARCH THEMES
Inequalities
Understanding and addressing cancer inequalities in early detection.
Inherited cancers
Investigating hereditary cancer populations to understand disease initiation and inform early detection and interception strategies.
Interception
Detecting and understanding pre-cancerous changes to identify targets for precision cancer interception.