This technology is an oligonucleotide that knocks down a cellular target, C9ORF72, to increase death of treatment-resistant cancer cells.
Aggressive cancers, such as glioblastoma, are rarely fully cured with standard treatments, resulting in common relapses. Current cancer treatments, such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy, rely on cellular proliferation to be effective. The evasiveness of these cancer cells is attributed to their low level of proliferation. There is an urgent need for a method to reach these quiescent cancer cells to develop a curative therapy instead of current palliative treatments.
This treatment uses an oligonucleotide to knock down the gene C9ORF72. The loss of this gene results in increased activity of anti-tumor genes that are toxic to aggressive cancer cells. It also causes temporarily increased cellular proliferation accompanied by increased uptake of extracellular molecules. This is followed by increased cellular death. The anti-tumor and cell death mechanisms are effective in killing cancerous tissue, while increased cellular proliferation enhances the uptake of drugs by otherwise drug-resistant cells. This combination of mechanisms enables the treatment of slowly proliferating cancers such as glioblastoma and osteosarcoma that are resistant to standard radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatments.
This technology has been validated with human cancer cells.
IR CU17202
Licensing Contact: Beth Kauderer