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mRNA-based vaccines targeting HPV-induced tumors

Grant number: 19/01523-3
Support Opportunities:Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
Effective date (Start): May 20, 2019
Effective date (End): February 19, 2020
Field of knowledge:Biological Sciences - Microbiology - Applied Microbiology
Principal Investigator:Luis Carlos de Souza Ferreira
Grantee:Jamile Ramos da Silva
Supervisor: Norbert Pardi
Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
Research place: University of Pennsylvania, United States  
Associated to the scholarship:16/11594-7 - Self-amplifying RNA as immunotherapeutic strategy for the control of tumors induced by HPV-16, BP.DR

Abstract

Cervical cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in women and is associated with persistent infection with Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) in more than 99% of the cases. Given the epidemiological relevance of tumors induced by HPV, development of effective therapeutic vaccines is a high priority. Therefore, we have developed a DNA-based therapeutic vaccine encoding the HPV-16 E7 protein of the Herpes Simplex Virus type 1 (HSV-1) glycoprotein D (gD), named gDE7. In order to optimize this vaccine for clinical applications, the current Ph.D. project aims to develop highly effective RNA vaccines encoding gDE7 and use them to treat tumors induced by HPV-16. Our previous results showed that vaccination with in vitro-synthesized unmodified and unpurified mRNA was not efficient in expressing the antigen of interest due to induction of a strong inflammatory response and translational blockade by the unmodified and unpurified mRNA. To address this issue, we hypothesized that the use of nucleoside-modified mRNA and additional purification steps to remove double-stranded RNA contaminants may help to overcome these issues. Thus, we propose an internship at the University of Pennsylvania supervised by Norbert Pardi, to further improve our gDE7 vaccine against HPV-associated tumours. We will use 2 major vaccine types: nucleoside-modified non-replicative mRNA and self-amplifying mRNA. We expect to consolidate a new collaboration and to move further on aiming the development of RNA-based vaccines, especially against cancer.

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Scientific publications
(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)
FREYN, ALEC W.; DA SILVA, JAMILE RAMOS; ROSADO, VICTORIA C.; BLISS, CARLY M.; PINE, MATTHEW; MUI, BARBARA L.; TAM, YING K.; MADDEN, THOMAS D.; DE SOUZA FERREIRA, LUIS CARLOS; WEISSMAN, DREW; et al. A Multi-Targeting, Nucleoside-Modified mRNA Influenza Virus Vaccine Provides Broad Protection in Mice. MOLECULAR THERAPY, v. 28, n. 7, p. 1569-1584, . (19/01523-3)

Please report errors in scientific publications list by writing to: cdi@fapesp.br.