The Canadian Network of Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics (CANVAC), one of the federal Networks of Centres of Excellence, is working to develop both prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines for cancer and life threatening viral infections. Diseases of focus include hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS, while more than 15 viral vaccines have already been licensed in North America. CANVAC is collaborating with III on its Request for Proposals "Host Response to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)," by contributing support for successful projects and providing access to its state-of the-art core facilities.
Dr. Rafick-Pierre Sékaly, chair of CANVAC and professor and researcher at the Université de Montréal Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CR-CHUM), holds several CIHR grants and awards. His work focuses on the mysterious aspects of the immune systems of individuals able to fight off viruses that would easily overcome others' defences. These individuals hold clues for researchers hoping to use similar immune-related strategies in vaccine development. "My ultimate milestone is to be able to precisely define the features of an immune response that confer protection," says Sékaly.
Giving hepatitis C as an example, Sékaly says 20 per cent of infected individuals can clear the virus spontaneously. There is also a well-studied population of prostitutes in Nairobi who have escaped infection with HIV despite repeated exposure to the virus. "If you know how the immune system on its own is able to control viremia, or a pathogen, that's how you'd like a vaccine to work," says Sékaly.
Developing assays to identify elements involved in protection is "the whole idea of the research which is done in my lab and at CANVAC," says Sékaly. New technologies, including developments in genomics and the capability of performing multi-parametric assays (the ability to study several parameters of an individual cell), allow the monitoring of discrete components of the immune response to the infectious agent. This had led to expanded capabilities in vaccine development.
