LOCATION:
John Radcliffe Hospital, Level 6, Headley Way, Headington, Oxford, OX3 9DU
Research groups
Joanna Hester
MSc, PhD
Associate Professor
I am a group co-leader in the Translational Research Immunology Group (TRIG).
My research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of immunological tolerance versus immune activation with a view to developing therapies that could benefit transplant recipients and patients with immune related diseases. I am particularly interested in immune cells with regulatory properties, regulatory T cells (Treg) and myeloid-derived suppressor cells and the mechanisms of suppression utilized by these cells. By providing the data on the in vivo efficacy of ex vivo expanded human Treg, my research helped to inform the current clinical study; the TWO Study, in which we are testing safety and efficacy of Treg cells in kidney transplant recipients.
Though my collaborations with colleagues in Oxford and beyond, I am also involved in projects investigating the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy and changes in the immune response in cancer, both in animal models and clinical trials.
Recent publications
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Regulatory T cell therapy is associated with distinct immune regulatory lymphocytic infiltrates in kidney transplants.
Journal article
McCallion O. et al, (2025), Med, 6
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Meeting Report: The Sixth International Sam Strober Workshop on Clinical Immune Tolerance.
Journal article
Stark H. et al, (2025), Transplantation, 109, 569 - 579
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IRE1 activity regulates tumour and microenvironment cell lineage states while stratifying localised and metastatic prostate cancer.
Preprint
Doultsinos D. et al, (2025)
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Gene editing of CD3 epsilon to redirect regulatory T cells for adoptive T cell transfer.
Journal article
Du W. et al, (2025), Mol Ther, 33, 997 - 1013
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Late Treatment With Autologous Expanded Regulatory T-cell Therapy After Alemtuzumab Induction Is Safe and Facilitates Immunosuppression Minimization in Living Donor Renal Transplantation.
Journal article
Brook MO. et al, (2024), Transplantation, 108, 2278 - 2286