Grant: Project Grant

Immunotherapy, harvesting the power of the immune system to target cancer, is emerging as a potentially powerful therapeutic approach. Some tumors, which are considered "immune hot" tumors, are effectively targeted by current immunotherapy approaches such as checkpoint blockade immunotherapy. However, "immune cold" tumors require pre-treatment with therapies that induce an immune response within the tumor prior to treatment with checkpoint blockade immunotherapy. Oncolytic viruses are emerging as novel therapies that specifically target cancer cells and not healthy cells, and induce potent immune responses. We have identified a novel oncolytic virus, Bovine herpes virus type 1, that has many unique properties that suggest potent and wide-reaching activity, surprisingly in the absence of virus replication. It appears that the main function of BHV-1 is to induce an immune-stimulating type of cancer cell death. We are currently working with a partner, Novatio Ventures, to develop BHV-1 vectors for clinical use. This project will allow us to further develop this technology and obtain key data to allow us to commercialize our technology and improve the business prospect for further investment to enable clinical trial development.