Regulation of anti-tumour immunity by the novel cytokine IL-35 in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas

This is a Cancer Research Wales funded PhD project to investigate the role of interleukin-35 (IL-35) in the regulation of anti-tumour immunity in human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). This research project is based on the recent discovery of IL-35 expression in HNSCC and biological function of IL-35 in anti-inflammation. The project aims to investigate the role of IL-35 in HNSCC development, which will lead to the identification of a biomarker for detection of cancer progression and prognostic information. This area may lead to the development of a novel immunomodulation therapy for HNSCC treatment.
This is fully funded PhD studentship, that will be supervised by Dr. Xiao-Qing Wei (Senior lecturer in immunology) and Dr. Adam V Jones (Consultant Pathologist). The project will be laboratory based with emphasis on molecular, cellular biology, immunology and histopathology techniques. Knowledge and understanding of basic immunology is required and experience in immunology and molecular techniques would be beneficial.

The School of Dentistry at Cardiff University is an established institute for PhD student training and biomedical research. In the 2014 research excellence framework (REF), the School of Dentistry was returned as part of Unit of Assessment (Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy). Overall the grade point averages of the research scored 3.42 and the unit was ranked 4th in the UK, with research by the supervisory team contributing to this REF submission.

The PhD student will determine the role of IL-35 in head and neck cancers using in vitro cell culture models and molecular/cellular biology techniques. The student will transfect HNSCC cell lines with human IL-35 expression plasmids and also using CRISPR/cas9 gene knockout to delete IL-35 genes in HNSCC cell lines followed by examining the IL-35 gene expression and phenotype changes in regulation of human macrophage/dendritic cells. At a later stage of study, the student will examine IL-35 expression using immunohistochemical techniques in HNSCC tissue microarrays that will be obtained from the Welsh Cancer Bank. This will be used to determine the role of IL-35 and associated molecules in cancer development and disease progression.