A research endeavor that seeks to develop a new cancer immunotherapy utilizing nanobody delivery and targeted heating of tumors has received funding from the Waddell Walker Hancock Cancer Discovery Fund.
The investigators aim to create a novel therapeutic that will reprogram regulatory T cells, which typically suppress immune responses, into killer T cells with antitumor activity. The key to this reprogramming is the STING signaling pathway, and the force needed to unlock it is fever-relevant temperature — a hypothesis based on recent discoveries from the group on how fevers affect immune responses.
The overreaching goal is to create an immunotherapy that will benefit more patients. Only about 15% of cancer patients respond to current immunotherapies.
The project will be led by Jeffrey Rathmell, PhD, the Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Immunobiology, director of the Vanderbilt Center for Immunobiology, and professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, in conjunction with John Tanner Wilson, PhD, associate professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology.
This is the first grant from the Waddell Walker Hancock Cancer Discovery Fund, which was created in 2022 in honor of the 50th anniversary of the A.B. Hancock Jr. Memorial Laboratory for Cancer Research. The Waddell Walker Hancock Cancer Discovery Fund supports basic science research projects based on innovative ideas that are considered high-risk with the potential for high rewards. Many donors have given to this endowed fund, which will provide crucial seed funding for Hancock Scholars in perpetuity.