State: New Mexicodfdhd

HPV is a very common virus. Most of the time, the body clears it on its own. But sometimes HPV sticks around and causes abnormal cells to grow in the cervix, anus, genitals, or throat. If those abnormal cells aren’t caught and treated, they can turn into cancer.Right now, getting treated usually means clinic visits, special tests, and sometimes painful procedures to remove the abnormal cells. For people in rural areas, Native communities, or places without good healthcare access, that’s a real barrier. People living with HIV face even higher risk because their bodies have a harder time fighting off HPV.This means people who already have the least access to care are the most likely to develop cancers that could have been prevented.Researchers are working on a treatment that people could use at home — an antiviral that someone would apply themselves, without needing a clinic visit. Combined with at-home HPV testing and follow-up through telehealth or community health workers, this approach could make it much easier for people to get treated early.For patients, that could mean fewer procedures, less time away from work, less travel, and less of the stress that comes with waiting and worrying.The bigger goal is simple: if treatment is easier to get, more people will get it — and fewer people will develop cancer.

Immune therapy has introduced a new way to treat cancer. One type of immune therapy is called PD1 immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI). PD1 ICI has enabled some people with melanoma and other cancers to live longer. These people have specific features on their tumors that are called biomarkers. People without these biomarkers do not respond as well to PD1 ICI therapy.

Our lab recently showed that a combination of two drugs can completely clear tumors in mice. One drug is a type of immune therapy called CTLA4 ICI; the other is an oral cancer drug called a PARP inhibitor. We developed two clinical trials to test this combination in people.
In the first clinical trial, we showed that people who lived longer had a new biomarker called VSTM5. In the second clinical trial, we will confirm that this biomarker predicts who will live longer when given this drug combination.

In this project, we will study why the VSTM5 biomarker predicts a response to the CTLA4 ICI therapy. We will use these results to select people who are likely to respond to CTLA4 ICI therapy. Our goal is to help more people get immune therapies that help them. We also want to help develop new types of treatments for ovarian and other cancers.