About
Dr Matthew Blunt leads a research team focused on natural killer (NK) cells and the utilisation of immune cells to provide safer and more effective treatments for people with cancer. His research group interacts closely with clinicians at the University Hospital Southampton and with collaborators from both academia and the pharmaceutical industry.
Examples of published research include:
- The nuclear export protein XPO1 provides a peptide ligand for natural killer cells (Blunt MD et al, Science Advances, 2024)
- Lymph node associated signals inhibit NK activation against leukemic cells via the immune checkpoint NKG2A (Fisher JG...Blunt MD, Leukemia, 2023)
- KIR2DS2 expression identifies NK cells with enhanced anti-cancer activity (Blunt MD et al, Journal of Immunology, 2022)
- XPO1 inhibition stimulates NK cell activation against lymphoma cells (Fisher JG...Blunt MD, Frontiers in Oncology, 2021).
- Development of a novel therapeutic to activate NK cells against cancer (Rettman P, Blunt MD et al, Journal for immunotherapy of cancer, 2021).
- Targeting the PI3K/mTOR pathway in leukaemia (Blunt MD et al, Blood, 2015).
- Identification of IL-4 as a resistance mechanism to idelalisib and ibrutinib in leukaemia (Aguilar-Hernandez M, Blunt MD et al, Blood, 2016 *Co-first author).
- Preclinical evaluation of the dual SYK/JAK inhibitor cerdulatinib alone and in combination with venetoclax in leukaemia (Blunt MD et al, Clinical Cancer Research, 2016).