Targeted Antineoplastic Therapeutic for Cancers with High Translation Rates

Value Proposition:

• Targeted cancer therapeutic and combination therapy to prevent resistance
• Target cancer cell’s vulnerable translation processes
• Target aggressive cancers with poor prognoses at present

Technology Description

The disclosed technology addresses the major challenge of identifying selective drug therapies that kill cancer cells, without affecting normal cells. Researchers at Johns Hopkins have developed an approach to selectively disrupt the growth of tumor cells that have high translation rates, through the combination of elongation inhibitors with modulators of the network of Stress Activating Protein Kinases (SAPK) to selectively kill high translation tumors.

Unmet Need

Combination therapy between many drugs has proven to be very effective in various cancer cells, but when it comes to inhibiting ribosome biogenesis with classic chemotherapeutic drugs, targeted therapies, or immunotherapies, a greater lethal effect can be achieved than with current treatment (Temaj, 2022). Therefore, there is a strong need for drugs that target the ribosome in cancer cells, as opposed to normal cells, because in cancer cells the protein synthesis is unbalanced, and many pathways are shown to have an influence (Temaj, 2022). This will not only increase the effectiveness of the treatment but also reduce the possibility of developing acquired resistance (Temaj, 2022).

Stage of Development: Proof of concept

Data Availability: Background data can be found at the below publication.

Publication

1. Sinha, Niladri K., et al. "The ribotoxic stress response drives UV-mediated cell death." Cell 187.14 (2024): 3652-3670. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.05.018
2. Wu, C. C., Peterson, A., Zinshteyn, B., Regot, S., & Green, R. (2020). Ribosome Collisions Trigger General Stress Responses to Regulate Cell Fate. Cell, 182(2), 404–416.e14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.06.006