Battling viral causes of death:

Dr. Chris Richardson fights viruses and cancer in Canadian Centre for Vaccinology

Dr. Chris Richardson is fighting the deadly effects of bloodborne hepatitis viruses on two fronts. A virologist and cancer researcher in one, Dr. Richardson is investigating how the “X protein” of the hepatitis B virus causes liver cancer. He holds a Terry Fox Grant from the National Cancer Institute of Canada for this work.

“Liver cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer deaths in the world; 53 per cent of liver cancers are caused by hepatitis B,” says Dr. Richardson. “There is a vaccine against hepatitis B, but two billion people are already infected worldwide. About 500 million of these people will develop liver disease – most likely cirrhosis or cancer – over the next 20 to 30 years.” Another 25 per cent of liver cancers are triggered by hepatitis C virus. Dr. Richardson is also studying how the liver’s immune response to this virus leads to cancer.

An international expert on measles virus, Dr. Richardson is engineering this common virus into a multi-purpose vaccine – against measles and a host of lethal agents including hepatitis C, HIV, SARS, avian flu, and West Nile viruses. “I’m working with the same virus that’s been used to vaccinate against measles for decades,” he says. “Measles is a safeway todeliver fragments of the more virulent viruses to the immune system.”

Remarkably, the vaccine strain of the measles virus is also a potential cancer treatment. Dr. Richardson has discovered receptors for the measles virus on tumour cells. “This virus seeks out and grows well in many tumours,” he notes. He is working in his lab and in cooperation with the Mayo Clinic on further measles-versus-cancer studies. He works with Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on various other projects.

Dr. Richardson is a Professor in the departments of Microbiology & Immunology and Pediatrics and a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Vaccinology and Viral Therapeutics. Prior to joining Dalhousie Medical School and the Canadian Centre for Vaccinology (at the IWK Health Centre) in 2006, he held senior appointments at the University of Toronto and Ontario Cancer Institute for 12 years, following a decade at McGill University and the National Research Council.