Following the untimely death of Charis Eng, M.D., Ph.D, her work is being carried on by talented and committed colleagues at the Lerner Research Institute at Cleveland Clinic. Professor Natalie Silver, M.D. has taken on the role of Principal Investigator along with Ying Ni, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, and Daniel McGrail, Assistant Professor.
The project aims to develop a preventive vaccine for women with inherited BRCA1 mutations that could reduce their risk of breast cancer. The project was initially funded in 2019. Based on significant progress made in the project, the grant was extended to phase 2 in 2021 and phase 3 in 2026.
Phase 1 and 2 work identified targetable antigens for preventive vaccine strategies. This work is published as a pre-print: “Targeting Germline BRCA1-Associated Breast Cancer Through Transcriptome-Guided Immunoprevention.”
During phase 3, they will generate and test an RNA-lipid nanoparticle (RNA-LP) vaccine directed against tumor-associated antigens that are overexpressed in breast carcinomas arising in germline BRCA1 mutation carriers.