Developing pH-responsive Polymeric Nanovaccine by RAFT Emulsion Technique for Head and Neck cancer Immunotherapy

In this project supported by the Medical and Life Sciences Research Fund, Warwick Chemistry PhD student Mingchao Li aims to develop a special kind of treatment called a polymeric nanovaccine to fight head and neck cancer.

This nanovaccine works by activating our body's own defence system against cancer. The research group expect several important findings from this project. First, our polymeric nanovaccine should activate special immune cells in the body that help fight cancer. Second, because these activated cells are so effective, they should attract other cells that can directly attack and reduce the size of the tumours in our models of head and neck cancer. Third, when we combine our nanovaccine with other treatments like anti-PD-1 antibodies, we believe they will work together to make the overall treatment even better. We think that using this combined treatment will be much more effective against head and neck cancer tumours compared to using each treatment on its own. Moreover, our preclinical data will pave the way for future clinical trials, providing important evidence of the safety and efficacy of nanovaccines in a real-world setting.