C11613: Novel Immunotherapy for Ovarian Cancer
Novelty:
This invention is an immunotherapy that coats tumor cells with foreign antigenic peptide thereby rendering the coated tumor cells susceptible to immune recognition and elimination.
Value Proposition:
Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the industrialized world. Ovarian cancer is the 3rd most deadly gynecologic cancer. This technology kills ovarian tumor cells without the issue of immune tolerance. Other advantages include:
• Easy to produce and administer
• No severe side effects associated with conventional cancer therapies such as radiation and chemotherapy
• Platform for treatment of other types of cancer
Technical Details:
Johns Hopkins researchers have developed a therapeutic chimeric protein containing a specific tumor-homing module fused to a foreign antigenic peptide. Antigen-specific immunotherapy targeting ovarian cancer cells faces the major obstacle of immune tolerance, a process that patients’ immune system doesn’t attack tumor cells. The protein selectively targets mesothelin, a protein over-expressed on ovarian tumor cells, and the antigenic peptide is cleaved at the tumor site. The peptide coats tumor cells and renders them susceptible to antigen-specific CD8+ T cell (CTL) mediated killing bypassing immune tolerance. The chimeric protein can also be designed to selectively target NKG2D, another protein highly expressed on multiple tumor cells; therefore, this technology has the potential to treat other types of cancers.
Looking for Partners: To develop and commercialize the technology as a new ovarian cancer immunotherapy and potentially a treatment for other types of cancers.
Stage of Development: Pre-clinical
Data Availability: Tested in vitro (hamster and human cell lines) and in vivo (mouse).
Patent Status: Granted US Patent 9,561,275
Publications/Associated Cases: PLoS One, 2012 April 11;7(4): e35141. Vaccine. 2007 Jan 2; 25(1):127-35. Epub 2006 Aug 7.
