Project summary: Catalyst Program
Anti-DEC205 priming in heterologous prime-boost with OVs for sarcoma
April 23rd, 2018 to March 31st, 2021
HIGHLIGHTS
- Sarcoma is often neglected by the pharmaceutical industry because of its rarity and homogeneity thus providing BioCanRx with the opportunity to bridge this gap in research and development
- Propose to use DEC205-mediated prime vaccination as a novel method to overcome limitations to current approaches
- New combination strategy can be quickly tested in human sarcoma given that there is already clinical experience with its individual components
- Significant contribution to the Biotherapeutics field to demonstrate that DEC205 targeted antibodies can be effective as part of a vaccination regimen in combination with oncolytic viruses
About the Project
Sarcoma is a rare and heterogeneous cancer for which treatment modalities have not changed in 20 years and outcomes remain dismal. New therapies are desperately needed to gain an upper hand against recurrent tumors and lung metastases, the main cause of sarcoma mortality. Immunotherapy has changed the clinical landscape for treatment of carcinomas but has not been widely explored for sarcoma. For this project, we aim to develop an anti-sarcoma vaccine combining antibodies that deliver the vaccine directly to the relevant cells of the immune system, and oncolytic viruses that have direct anti-sarcoma effects and that also boost the effect of this vaccine. Our preliminary data have demonstrated that the combination of the antibody with oncolytic virus leads to a strong immune response that is able to control lung metastasis in a murine model of melanoma. In collaboration with BioCanRx, we propose to further optimize this vaccine targeting sarcoma. Importantly, this project builds directly on “oncolytic virus vaccine” technologies currently being supported by BioCanRx through enabling and clinical trial studies, and aims to overcome some of the limitations associated to current approaches. Given its rarity and heterogeneity, sarcoma is often ignored by the pharmaceutical industry and thus it is an opportunity for BioCanRx to help bridge this important research and development gap.
