# STING Activating Synthetic Nanovaccine for HPV-Induced Cancers

> **NIH NIH R01** · UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER · 2020 · $376,428

## Abstract

Abstract
 Human papilloma virus (HPV) infection is the primary cause of cervical cancer in women
worldwide. In addition, HPV-induced head and neck and anogenital cancers are also rising in
both male and female populations in the US. Immunotherapy is becoming an important
component of cancer care in addition to surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy.
Checkpoint inhibitors and adoptive cell transfer therapy such as chimeric antigen receptor T
cell therapy have shown durable patient response in melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer,
and renal cell cancer patients. However, immune-related toxicity, high costs, and
unsustainable memory T cell immunity are major limitations for the rapid adoption of T cell
therapy in patient care. Recently, we established a STING-activating polymeric nanovaccine
to boost tumor-specific T cell immunity against various solid cancers. The nanovaccine
consists of a physical mixture of an antigen with a synthetic polymeric nanoparticle, PC7A
NP, which generated robust cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response and long-term memory T
cell immunity with low systemic cytokines release. PC7A nanovaccine produced potent tumor
growth inhibition and increased long-term survival in melanoma, colorectal cancer and human
papilloma virus (HPV)-E6/E7 tumor models in mice. In this application, we will test the
hypothesis that direct binding of PC7A to STING will lead to STING redistribution from ER to
Golgi for innate stimulation and furthermore, inhibiting immune checkpoints elevated by
STING activation will overcome tumor resistance to PC7A nanovaccine. We will carry out the
following specific aims: (1) Investigate the biochemical mechanism of STING activation by
PC7A polymer. (2) Investigate the mechanism of vaccine resistance. (3) Investigate
nanovaccine efficacy in a transgenic mouse model displaying human HLA-A2. Successful
execution of this research will lead to a synthetic nanovaccine for immunotherapy of HPV-
induced cancers. The proposed PC7A nanovaccine and checkpoint inhibition strategy can
also be adopted for immunotherapy of other types of cancers.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9892979
- **Project number:** 5R01CA216839-03
- **Recipient organization:** UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Jinming Gao
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $376,428
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-04-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9892979

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9892979, STING Activating Synthetic Nanovaccine for HPV-Induced Cancers (5R01CA216839-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9892979. Licensed CC0.

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