DENG Yuli
Mathematics and Statistics, Year 3

Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science,
Simon Fraser University, Canada

A Hong Kong Baptist University-led (HKBU) research team has developed a novel drug which has the potential to become a next-generation treatment for cancers associated with Epstein–Barr virus (EBV). 

The peptide-linked drug, which is responsive to the acidic environment found in tumours, is the first known agent to have successfully targeted two viral proteins that are simultaneously produced by EBV. It also offers a new strategy by increasing the uptake of anti-cancer drugs in tumour cells, thus allowing the application of lower drug dosages which helps reduce treatment side effects and health risks. 

EBV is one of the most common viruses in humans, having infected more than 90% of the human population worldwide. It is widely known that the virus plays a key role in several cancers such as nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), which is highly prevalent in Hong Kong and southern China.

Led by Professor Gary Wong Ka-Leung, Professor and Head of the Department of Chemistry at HKBU, Dr Lung Hong Lok, Assistant Professor of the Department of Chemistry at HKBU, and Dr Law Ga-lai, Associate Professor of the Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the research team constructed a novel drug with a peptide, i.e., a component of the building blocks of various proteins, that can target two EBV-specific viral proteins – Latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1) and Epstein–Barr nuclear antigen 1 (EBNA1). They are the viral proteins which are expressed in all EBV-infected tumour cells, and both play a vital role in the development and progression of EBV-associated tumours.

Leveraging the success of the first-generation drugs developed by the research team in recent years, this novel dual-targeting drug employs the treatment mechanisms of: (1) targeting and binding to EBNA1, making it no longer functional, and (2) inhibiting LMP1 and serving as an imaging agent. Since LMP1 is more accessible to drug targeting due to its presence on the surface of cells, the ability of the new drug to selectively identify EBV-infected cancer cells is largely enhanced.