Grant: Doctoral: Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships

Dr. Honglin Luo, University of British Colombia. Breast cancer, the most frequent cancer in women, is a global challenge. In Canada, breast cancer is a significant concern, affecting women and accounting for a substantial number of cancer-related deaths. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a subtype of breast cancer that is known for its high aggressiveness and challenges in treatment. Therefore, new therapeutic methods are urgently needed for this disease. Virotherapy is an emerging method in cancer treatment that involves the use of oncolytic viruses to selectively infect and destroy cancer cells while sparing healthy cells. Over the past decades, various types of oncolytic viruses have been studied for their potential effectiveness against TNBC. However, their clinical application has been limited due to poor anti-cancer efficacy and no virotherapy for breast cancer has yet been approved by the FDA. The objective of my Ph.D. thesis project is to develop a new, potent, and clinically-translatable virotherapy for TNBC treatment. Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) as a potent oncolytic virus is a promising new candidate with particularly valuable features. Recent research from our laboratory has shown that changing the CVB3 virus by adding specific genetic instructions can make it safer while keeping its ability to kill cancer cells. During my project, I aim to characterize the anti-tumor method of CVB3 and develop a pre-clinical protocol for TNBC therapy. This study will aim to uncover effective antiviral ways and test combination therapy in TNBC mouse models. My hypothesis is that using the changed CVB3 virus with other therapies can make it better at fighting against TNBC. I expect that finishing this project will lead to a safe and effective treatment for TNBC, which will greatly improve the health of TNBC patients by increasing the efficacy of CVB3 in TNBC therapy and reducing the chances of serious illness or death related to this disease.