Congratulations Charbonneau investigators on successful CIHR Fall 2025 Project Grants
Assistant Professor, Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases
Co-Investigators: Angela Chan, Etienne Mahe, Sorana Morrissy
Project Background:
Characterizing the role of type 2 innate lymphoid cells in PD-1 blockade therapy
Immunotherapy has revolutionized the clinical management of cancer. The targeting of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), an inhibitory receptor expressed on immune cells, has markedly improved the prognosis of persons with cancer. However, the harsh reality is that this is not a universal cure. Anti-PD-1 therapies were thought to solely strengthen adaptive T lymphocyte anti-tumour activity. However, our data suggest that other immune cell subsets, particularly type 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s), respond to anti-PD-1 therapies and contribute to treatment efficacy. Harnessing these ILC2s provides a unique approach to dealing with immunotherapy resistances by complementing current adaptive immune mechanisms with key innate immune cell targeting strategies. To this end, this project aims to examine (i) how ILC2s respond to PD-1 blockade, (ii) the contribution of ILC2s toward treatment efficacy, and iii) whether ILC2s could serve as a predictor of treatment response. Collectively, results from this study will reveal the role and function of ILC2s in anti-PD-1 treatment efficacy. Our long-term goal is to leverage ILC2-targeting strategies for cancer treatment.
Duration: 5 years
Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, Division of General Surgery, and Department of Oncology
Co-Investigators: Jeffrey Cao, Colleen Cuthbert, Kelly Metcalfe, May Lynn Quan, Yuan Xu
Project Background:
About 15% of breast cancers have already spread to the lymph nodes at diagnosis. In these cases, surgeons usually remove all the lymph nodes in the armpit using a procedure called axillary lymph node dissection (ALND). ALND causes long-term arm pain, stiffness or swelling in nearly half of patients. On average, 17 lymph nodes are removed, even though only 1 to 3 will contain cancer in up to 40% of cases. A newer approach called tailored axillary surgery (TAS) removes only lymph nodes are known or most likely to contain cancer, avoiding those that are healthy. On average only 4-8 nodes are removed, which may reduce the risk of arm symptoms and improve quality of life (QoL). However, this benefit has not been well-studied. We are planning a study involving patients with lymph node-positive breast cancer at 12 centres across Canada. Participants will complete surveys about arm and breast symptoms, physical function, emotional and social well-being and overall QoL. We will describe how common and how severe symptoms are, and how they change over 2 years after surgery. We will compare symptoms and QoL in patients who had TAS versus ALND. Most studies have focused on proving that TAS is safe and does not increase the risk of cancer recurrence or death. Our work is unique because it focuses on life after treatment from the patient perspective. If TAS causes fewer side effects than ALND, this would support offering it to more patients. Since TAS is still new and not widely used, we may be missing an important chance to reduce treatment-related side effects in survivorship.
Duration: 5 years
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Departments of Oncology and Community Health Sciences
Associate Professor, Faculty of Nursing
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Oncology
Assistant Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences
Co-Investigators: Darren Brenner, Winson Cheung, Robert Hilsden, Kareem Jamani, Safiya Karim, Linda Rabeneck, Patricia Tang, Matthew Warkentin
Project Background:
More people are surviving cancer, but they face a higher risk of developing and dying from a second, new cancer. Despite this risk, current screening guidelines do not fully address the unique needs of survivors of adult cancers, particularly survivors at or near screening eligible age. Up to 25% of survivors of adult cancers develop another cancer, often breast or colorectal, but it's unclear if they follow standard screening or if those guidelines are effective for them. To create better screening programs for survivors of adult cancers, we need to understand their specific risks, current screening habits, and what challenges they face in getting screened. This project aims to improve colorectal and breast cancer screening for survivors of adult cancers. The objectives of this study are to 1) identify patterns and reasons why some adult cancer survivors do not follow screening guidelines; 2) identify high-risk adult cancer survivors who may need enhanced screening by studying those who developed cancer despite following screening guidelines; 3) explore barriers and supports for screening through interviews with adult cancer survivors and doctors. We will analyze health records of 119,000 adult cancer survivors in Alberta (diagnosed 2004-2024) to track screening habits and identify factors linked to missed screenings or late-stage diagnoses. We will examine demographics, medical history, cancer treatments, and provider types. Interviews with survivors and doctors will provide insights into screening challenges and potential improvements. This study will guide personalized screening strategies for survivors of adult cancers, helping increase screening participation and improve early detection, ultimately leading to better health outcomes.
Duration: 1 year
Associate Professor, Departments of Surgery and Community Health Sciences
Co-Investigators: Paul Cantle, Marc Carrier, Andrew Dodd, Paul Duffy, Madeleine Gorman-Asal, Pierre Guy, Herman Johal, Faizal Kassam, Robert Korley, Stephen Mann, Brad Meulenkamp, Maha Othman, Stephen Papp, Kimberly Rondeau, Deborah Siegal, Leslie Skeith, David Stockton, Mina Tohidi, Geoffrey Wilkin, Jeff Yach, Daniel You
Project Background:
Orthopaedic injuries are common and patients who require surgery are at risk of developing blood clots in the legs (called deep vein thromboses) or blood clots in the lungs (called pulmonary embolism). Despite the use of blood thinning medication, up to 12% of patients undergoing surgery for a leg injury experience a blood clotting complication. Currently, medical guidelines differ on who should receive blood thinning medications, leading to potential over- or under-treatment. The Trauma, Immobilisation, and Patient (TRiP) cast scoring system has been used to evaluate individual blood clotting risk after an injury to determine if blood thinning medication would be beneficial. However, this score has not been used for patients requiring surgery. Our prior research in patients with hip fractures used a simple blood test (called thrombelastography, or TEG) to measure how quickly and effectively blood forms clots. Therefore, we propose to use TEG in the same way to decide if this blood test can improve the ability of the TRiP cast score to identify which patients would benefit from blood thinning medication after surgery for their leg injury. We will recruit adult patients with leg injuries requiring surgery from 4 hospitals across Canada. Each participant will undergo a risk assessment using the TRiP cast score and have blood tests analyzed by TEG. We will monitor participants over a 90-day period to observe any blood clotting or bleeding complications. This study is unique because it combines a clinical risk assessment tool (TRiP cast score) with an advanced blood test (TEG) to develop a personalized strategy for preventing blood clots. Our research team includes physicians, scientists, and patient partners. By focusing on individualized risk factors, we aim to move away from a one-size-fits-all approach to blood clot prevention, potentially setting a new standard for personalized patient care in this area.
Duration: 1 year
