This SPARK project aims to develop a novel cancer vaccine platform that teaches the immune system to recognize cancer cells as virus-infected enemies. By activating two powerful immune responses simultaneously, this approach could help overcome tumor resistance and lead to safer, more effective therapies for patients with hard-to-treat cancers.
2026 Tullie and Rickey Families Spark Awards finalist
Mousa Vatanmakanian, Ph.D.
Can we train the immune system to see cancer as a virus and wipe it out?
Cancer cells are often invisible to the immune system because they don’t display typical warning signs, but putting a “virus costume” on cancer cells could offer an effective solution.
This project introduces a novel cancer vaccine platform that puts a fake virus signature on cancer cells. I will use proteins from viruses known to trigger strong immune responses and deliver them directly into tumors. This “viral mimicry” tricks the immune system into recognizing cancer cells as infected targets, triggering your body’s powerful anti-virus defenses.
This approach is especially powerful because it activates two immune system armies at once: the body’s immediate virus-fighting response as well as specialized immune cells that hunt down and kill “virus-infected” tumor cells. And, unlike other treatments that need to be customized for each patient, our method uses the same virus pieces that work for everyone.
If successful, this work could launch a new generation of virus-inspired cancer immunotherapies, helping the immune system see-and-destroy-cancer in a whole new way.
“Funding for this project gives us the rare opportunity to test a completely novel way to reactivate the immune system against tumors, something too risky for conventional grants, but too promising to ignore. I hope this research sparks a new category of cancer immunotherapy, one that uses the body’s natural antiviral defenses to expose and eliminate cancer.”
