This technology is a method for treating gastric cancers by inhibiting the cholinergic receptors that could be combined with existing chemotherapies for an improved treatment regimen.
Gastric cancers are diagnosed at a rate of over 21,000 new cases each year in the United States. These cancers, which affect the upper digestive tract, have an outsized impact on a patient’s quality of life, often causing intense abdominal pain and severely limiting the patient’s ability to eat and digest food. Although therapeutic interventions such as chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery have significantly increased the survival rate of gastric cancer victims, the mortality rate for these cancers still remains as high as 50%. as such, there is a need for complementary treatment strategies to improve the efficacy of existing chemotherapies.
This technology augments traditional treatments for gastric cancer by blocking cholinergic activity in the peripheral nervous system. This technology is based on the finding that cholinergic signaling has been shown to send growth-stimulating signals to gastric cancer cells. Thus, blocking cholinergic signaling may slow and even reverse tumor growth. Broad-spectrum blockers of acetylcholine signaling, such as scopolamine, amitryptiline and other tricyclic antidepressants, are already marketed and well-tolerated, with minimal harmful side effects. Adding these drugs to standard gastric cancer therapeutic regimens has the potential to significantly improve patient outcomes with minimal additional cost or risk to the patient.
This technology has been tested in vitro in human tissue-based organoid models, and further in vivo testing in mouse models is planned.
Patent Pending (US 20170246267)
IR CU13357
Licensing Contact: Jerry Kokoshka
