Epstein-Barr virus-associated neo-antigens in advanced prostate cancer

Principal Investigator

Name
Denong Wang

Degrees
Ph.D.

Institution
SRI International

Position Title
Senior Program Director

Email
denong.wang@sri.com

About this CDAS Project

Study
PLCO (Learn more about this study)

Project ID
2025-0062

Initial CDAS Request Approval
Feb 2, 2026

Title
Epstein-Barr virus-associated neo-antigens in advanced prostate cancer

Summary
Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most common human malignancy in the United States. The main goal of this project is to identify novel PCa biomarkers that can distinguish between indolent, clinically unaggressive localized PCs and those that have the potential to cause adverse clinical outcomes and require early and potentially multi-modal therapeutic interventions. Using a cohort of well-categorized prostate cancer (PCa) specimens from Stanford University School of Medicine as a reference, we identified several promising biomarkers for detecting aggressive cancers, notably the EBV-associated glycan markers. In this proposal, we plan to extend our investigation to the PLCO cohorts of blood specimens and tissues to determine whether the results obtained using the Stanford cohort are generally applicable for the detection and targeted treatment of aggressive prostate cancer (aPCa).

Aims

This proposal focuses on the validation of a panel of epithelial cryptic glycans that are differentially expressed in prostate cancer and are potentially immunogenic in vivo. We hypothesize that the detection of these glycan markers and corresponding B cells/autoantibodies targeting these markers supports the detection and differential diagnosis of PCa. To achieve this goal, we will specifically evaluate whether expression profiles of cryptic glycans in prostate tissue microarrays (TMA) correlate with aggressive progression of PCa (Aim 1); whether B cell/serological responses for epithelial cryptic glycan markers correlate with aggressive progression of PCa (Aim 2), whether a prospective “Virtual Decision Model” established based on these tests is valuable for differential diagnosis between aggressive PCa (aPCa) and the clinically indolent, non-aggressive cancer (iPCa) (Aim 3), and if tumor glycan-specific antibodies, including humanized IgGs and polymeric IgG antibodies effectively kill specific immunotype of aPCa in multiple functional assays (Aim 4).

Collaborators

Denong Wang (SRI International)
Jiaoti Huang (Duke University)