Preclinical development of a cancer vaccine for hepatocellular carcinoma treatment
Grant Data
Project Title
Preclinical development of a cancer vaccine for hepatocellular carcinoma treatment
Principal Investigator
Professor Yam, Judy Wai Ping
(Principal Investigator (PI))
Duration
36
Start Date
2024-04-01
Amount
1574467
Conference Title
Preclinical development of a cancer vaccine for hepatocellular carcinoma treatment
Keywords
Preclinical, cancer, vaccine, hepatocellular carcinoma, treatment
Discipline
Pathology
HKU Project Code
PRP/024/23FX
Grant Type
Partnership Research Programme (PRP) - 2023
Funding Year
2024
Status
On-going
Objectives
Immunotherapy has gained burgeoning interest in the field of cancer treatment for itspromising effect in some cancer types. Cancer vaccines in terms of preventive ortherapeutic in nature stimulate the immune system to recognize tumor antigen and boostthe immune response to attack antigen expressing cells and neutralize the antigenfunctions. However, the development of cancer vaccine is challenging as cancer cellshave the ability to escape from immunosurveillance. NAMPT catalyzes the conversion ofNAM to NMN, a precursor of NAD+ which is crucial to maintain cellular homeostasis.However, accumulating evidence has revealed an elevated level of serum NAMPT, eitherin free form or carried by extracellular vesicle, in patients with different cancer types.Dysregulated NAMPT leads to imbalanced NAD+ metabolism and polarizesmacrophages toward a pro-tumorigenic M2 phenotype that creates animmunosuppressive microenvironment for cancer cells. This project aims to develop acancer vaccine that can induce patients' immune response to recognize NAMPT and atumor associated antigen such as survivin and PD-L1 to elicit immune response to attackcancer. The proof-of-concept about cancer treatment using the cancer vaccine will beevaluated in mouse model of liver cancer. The success of this study will have greatpotential to optimize the outcome of cancer patients.