The Synthesis of Natural Tn Antigen Carbohydrate Vaccines
Standing
Undergraduate
Type of Proposal
Oral Research Presentation
Challenges Theme
Building Viable, Healthy and Safe Communities
Faculty
Faculty of Science
Faculty Sponsor
John F. Trant
Proposal
The Synthesis of Natural Tn Antigen Carbohydrate Vaccines
Aiyireti (Dina) Dilinaer, Michael R. Reynolds, S. Iraj Sadraei, John F. Trant
The immune system plays an important role in defending the human body against diseases and invasion of pathogens. When the immune system fails to recognize and kill the pathogen or mutated cells, diseases such as cancer will develop and spread in the body. As an antigen that is produced by many types of cancer cells, the Tn antigen was discovered 60 years ago and has been of interest to synthetic organic chemists ever since. Despite the fact that it has never been found on healthy cells, the immune system does not detect it as foreign and therefore, does not trigger an immune response. Even though it has a simple structure of a monosaccharide linked to an amino acid, it is very difficult to isolate from biological systems and the present method of obtaining this natural antigen is extremely costly. The chemical structure of the Tn antigen also makes it unstable in the human body since it could be broken down by glycosidases, resulting in great difficulty studying it’s properties in vivo. Therefore, it is the Trant Team’s goal to synthesize two chemical derivatives of the Tn antigen which are more stable and will be able to elicit an immune response. Namely, we are working toward the development of immunotherapeutic cancer vaccines that could not only slow down the progression of diseases, but may inhibit the formation of certain carcinomas altogether. Once the derivatives are made on a larger scale, studies will be done both in vitro and in vivo to compare its stabilities and functionalities with the “acetal-free” analogues of the antigen.
The Synthesis of Natural Tn Antigen Carbohydrate Vaccines
The Synthesis of Natural Tn Antigen Carbohydrate Vaccines
Aiyireti (Dina) Dilinaer, Michael R. Reynolds, S. Iraj Sadraei, John F. Trant
The immune system plays an important role in defending the human body against diseases and invasion of pathogens. When the immune system fails to recognize and kill the pathogen or mutated cells, diseases such as cancer will develop and spread in the body. As an antigen that is produced by many types of cancer cells, the Tn antigen was discovered 60 years ago and has been of interest to synthetic organic chemists ever since. Despite the fact that it has never been found on healthy cells, the immune system does not detect it as foreign and therefore, does not trigger an immune response. Even though it has a simple structure of a monosaccharide linked to an amino acid, it is very difficult to isolate from biological systems and the present method of obtaining this natural antigen is extremely costly. The chemical structure of the Tn antigen also makes it unstable in the human body since it could be broken down by glycosidases, resulting in great difficulty studying it’s properties in vivo. Therefore, it is the Trant Team’s goal to synthesize two chemical derivatives of the Tn antigen which are more stable and will be able to elicit an immune response. Namely, we are working toward the development of immunotherapeutic cancer vaccines that could not only slow down the progression of diseases, but may inhibit the formation of certain carcinomas altogether. Once the derivatives are made on a larger scale, studies will be done both in vitro and in vivo to compare its stabilities and functionalities with the “acetal-free” analogues of the antigen.