Australia Blocking Cell Movement for Cancer and Multiple Sclerosis

Shaun McColl and other researchers at the University of Adelaide in Australia have identified molecular receptors, a specialized cell or group of nerve endings that respond to sensory stimuli, on surface cells that help cells migrate to sites where they can cause disease. They are finding new ways to block those movements in the body.

Movements that can cause autoimmune diseases and the spreading of cancer.

Professor McColl is the Head of Chemokine Biology, Deputy Head of the School of Molecular and Biomedical Science and Deputy Executive Dean of the FAculty of Sciences at the University of Adelaide.

With his amazing resume and the successful ability of the University of Adelaide’s to attract funding, Professor McColl and his team where able to identify a series of receptors in multiple sclerosis (MS) and have developed what could be therapeutic drugs that could control the disease. Along with other autoimmune diseases as well.

“A number of diseases like cancer and autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and arthritis, involve the inappropriate migration of cells,” says Professor McColl. “Our research shows that these receptors which help the cells migrate can be blocked pharmacologically, preventing the cell migration which causes the disease.”