Gene Therapy and Cancer Vaccines

Harnessing the effector arm of the innate immune system offers a novel strategy to overcome major barriers in cancer treatment. This project seeks to develop first-in-class translational immunotherapy platform integrating a polyvalent viral-based cancer vaccine targeting breast cancer stem cells (CSCs). CSCs are a rare but highly malignant subset within many solid tumors, responsible for tumor initiation, metastasis, therapy resistance, and relapse. Conventional therapies fail to eradicate CSCs, allowing tumor regrowth and poor long-term outcomes. Our cancer gene therapy strategy encodes multiple validated CSC-associated tumor antigens in a viral vector to elicit potent multi-antigen-specific T cell responses, while simultaneously activating dendritic cells (DCs) and natural killer (NK) cells. By stimulating both innate and adaptive immunity, this vaccine platform aims to establish durable tumor control and immune memory. Preclinical testing will be conducted using humanized immune system NSG mouse models of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), a highly aggressive and treatment refractory subtype. Success in this program could lay the foundation for first-in-Kingdom cancer immunotherapy targeting CSCs, with potential expansion across multiple aggressive tumor types.

Andrea Amalfitano, Monther Alalwan.