This federal Project Grant award from the National Cancer Institute (CFDA 93.395 - Cancer Treatment Research) provides $222,998 to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) to develop a novel virus-like particle (VLP) vector approach for engineering endogenous immune cells (T cells, NK cells, macrophages) to express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) that can target and kill ovarian cancer cells.
The key products and services to be delivered under this 2-year award include: 1) In vitro testing to determine the efficiency and specificity of the DARPIN-mediated gene expression in immune cell lines and primary immune cells for CAR expression and cancer cell killing; 2) Transcriptomic and metabolomic profiling of the VLP-engineered immune cells; and 3) In vivo evaluation and optimization of the approach using mouse models to assess efficacy, safety, persistence, and ability to stimulate a broader immune response against ovarian cancer. The overall goal is to enable this novel in vivo cell engineering strategy to become a viable therapeutic approach for treating otherwise refractory cancers.
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