Associate Professor Graham Leggatt
Primary research interest
Immunotherapy of non-melanoma skin cancers
Additional roles
Senior Lecturer and Senior Research fellow at SCMB and UQDI
About me
I completed a Bachelor of Science with honours at the University of Queensland in 1989 before undertaking Ph.D. studies on the immune response against parasitic worms (hydatid disease) at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR). After receiving my doctorate from UQ in 1993, I headed to the NIH (USA) in Washington D.C. for a 4 year postdoctoral fellowship in T cell immunity to the HIV virus. Finally, I returned to Brisbane in 1997 to commence work on immune responses to cancer antigens expressed in the epithelium (including skin) with Prof. Ian Frazer. I am currently a senior lecturer with a joint appointment between SCMB and the UQ Diamantina Institute (Princess Alexandra Hospital).
Research focus and collaborations
The lab has a long term research focus on understanding the generation and regulation of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) in response to epithelial tumour. We particularly focus on the local T cell response to target antigens in the skin during the development of squamous cell carcinoma or cervical cancer. An understanding of the immune cells which regulate CTL function (e.g. Treg and NKT), the receptors which control CTL trafficking to the skin and the nature of the skin cells which present antigen to the T cell will aid in the development of immunotherapies for these debilitating diseases.
Funded projects
- 2014-2015: Cancer Council Queensland grant, Memory CD8 T cell subsets in non-melanoma skin cancer.
- 2017-2018: Cancer Council Queensland grant, Local targeting of immunomodulatory molecules on CD8 T cells in non-melanoma skin cancer.
Teaching interests
- BIOL3003: Course coordinator
- MICR7002: Course Cooordinator
- Contribute lectures to: BIOL1007, BIOM2011, Medicine
Featured publications
- Wong, Arthur, Lanyon, Janet M., McKee, Sara J., Linedale, Richard, Woolford, Lucy, Long, Trevor and Leggatt, Graham R. (2018) Development of a polyclonal anti-dugong immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody with evaluation of total plasma IgG in a living dugong (Dugong dugon) population. Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology, 200 16-25. doi:10.1016/j.vetimm.2018.04.003
- Kuo, Paula, Tuong, Zewen K, Teoh, Siok Min, Frazer, Ian H, Mattarollo, Stephen and Leggatt, Graham R(2018) HPV16E7 Induced Hyperplasia Promotes CXCL9/10 Expression and Induces CXCR3+ T cell Migration to Skin. The Journal of investigative dermatology, 138 6: 1348-1359. doi:10.1016/j.jid.2017.12.021
- Linedale, Richard, Schmidt, Campbell, King, Brigid T., Ganko, Annabelle G., Simpson, Fiona, Panizza, Benedict J. and Graham R. Leggatt (2017) Elevated frequencies of CD8 T cells expressing PD-1, CTLA-4 and Tim-3 within tumour from perineural squamous cell carcinoma patients. PLoS One, 12 4: e0175755.1-e0175755.13. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0175755
- Bergot, Anne-Sophie, Ford, Neill, Leggatt, Graham R., Wells, James W., Frazer, Ian H. and Grimbaldeston, Michele A. (2014) HPV16-E7 expression in squamous epithelium creates a local immune suppressive environment via CCL2- and CCL5- mediated recruitment of mast cells. PLoS Pathogens, 10 10: 1-11. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1004466
- McKee, Sara J., Mattarollo, Stephen R. and Leggatt, Graham R. (2014) Immunosuppressive roles of natural killer T (NKT) cells in the skin. Journal of Leukocyte Biology, 96 1: 49-54. doi:10.1189/jlb.4RU0114-001R