Research News

DalNews recently covered the exciting research into Natural Killer (NK) cells being done in the Department of Pathology.

The Boudreau Lab, headed by Associate Professor Dr. Jeanette Boudreau, is hoping to weaponise the body's NK cells to combat cancer.

PhD candidate Stacey Lee, who studies in Dr. Boudreau’s lab, has already demonstrated that NK cells can kill pancreatic cancer tumours. She has also created a mouse model with human tumours, which she can treat with human NK cells.

The Boudreau Lab is also investigating if the NK cells can be used to treat ovarian cancer.

“A good chunk of my lab is working on NK-cell based therapies for ovarian cancer, focusing a lot on the way the NK cells direct the rest of the immune system to interact with the tumors,” Dr. Boudreau says.

New therapies using NK cells are five to 10 years in the future for hard-to-treat tumours like those in ovarian cancer, Dr. Boudreau estimates. But in other diseases, like pancreatic cancer, it may be possible to help at least a proportion of patients by implementing gene sequencing right away, she says.

The article can be read online at DalNews.