Grant: Cancer Research Society Doctoral Research Awards - ICR-ISI

"My project focuses on developing a cancer vaccine platform to target glioblastoma, one of the most common primary brain cancers in adults. Based on a large body of clinical trials assessing the efficacy of cancer vaccines for GBM, my project aims to assess a viral vector approach. Reovirus is genetically engineered to express epitopes that are specifically found in the murine GBM cell line, CT2A. One of these targets is survivin, chosen based on its success in clinical trials both in vaccine and CAR-T approaches. A large part of my project depends on establishing and working with intracranial models and profiling immune responses to address key issues faced in treating GBM such as insufficient T cell infiltration, T cell exhaustion, and suppressive macrophages. I also plan to explore whether my vaccine can synergize with immune checkpoint inhibitors, which thus far have shown limited efficacy in GBM. Another key question my project aims to answer with an orally delivered cancer vaccine is whether the route of mucosal immunity will be able to sufficiently prime activated T cells for systemic migration, including crossing the blood brain barrier. Mucosal vaccination to target GBM has never been explored. This project places great emphasis on adapting a currently available oral reovirus cancer vaccine platform, featuring an excellent safety profile, high stability, and ease of manufacturing, for the most common brain cancer, glioblastoma. "