Mads Hartvig Clausen

Development of glycan-based cancer vaccines

Applicant

Mads Hartvig Clausen

Project description

Immunotherapy is currently revolutionizing cancer therapy by harnessing the power of the innate and adaptive immune system against cancer cells, thus providing a more tumor-selective approach in assistance to traditional treatments. The identification of tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens (TACAs), aberrant types of glycans decorating the surface of tumor cells, has paved the way for the development of a new type of cancer active immunotherapy based on cancer vaccines. However, while significant progress has been made in this area of research, TACA-based cancer vaccines have not yet reached the clinic. In this context, the project will address some limitations that characterize classical approaches in carbohydrate cancer vaccine development, while focusing on understanding how to exploit glycans as both tumor-associated epitopes and vaccine adjuvants to access novel, more effective synthetic candidates. The project is based on results with self-adjuvanting cancer vaccines consisting of a carbohydrate antigen and a glycolipid adjuvant. These systems have shown the ability to generate IgG antibodies in vivo and stimulate iNKT cells both ex vivo and in mice. The synthetic TACA-glycoconjugates are used in a versatile liposomal delivery platform, which will be further investigated in vitro (cellular mode-of-action studies) and in vivo (mice immunization studies, mechanistic characterization and tumor challenge experiments).

Institution

Technical University of Denmark