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Chromatin nanofibre as a therapeutic cancer vaccine

Year:
2016
Duration:
38 months
Approved budget:
$150,000.00
Researchers:
Dr Jeong Park
Health issue:
Inflammatory and immune system
Proposal type:
Explorer Grant
Lay summary
Diverse vaccines to prevent and treat diseases have been developed for several centuries using inactivated pathogens and pathogen-derived proteins. Two latest developments of vaccine technologies are using chemically defined peptide (peptide vaccine) or antigen-expressing DNA (DNA vaccine) as a vaccine component. By combining these two innovative approaches, we propose to develop a new fusion technology to prepare a tailored chromatin fibre vaccine in order to elicit specific immune responses to the selected antigens. The candidate peptides can be attached to the chromatin fibre in a manner that all antigenic peptides can be displayed on the surface. To examine the concept of custom-tailored chromatin vaccine, two peptides that arise from the most mutated cancer-causing gene will be assimilated to the chromatin fibre and used to raise an immune response in animal studies. Our studies will provide an innovative platform to develop diverse custom-tailored vaccines in the future.