The National Cancer Institute (NCI) seeks research co-development partners and/or licensees for viral peptide (CE1)-based therapeutics for HCC prevention and treatment.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common and aggressive primary liver cancer. It develops mainly from at-risk individuals with underlying chronic liver diseases, such as hepatitis and cirrhosis. HCC is a leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide and its global incidence and mortality rate continues to rise. The current methods for early detection, surveillance and treatment are suboptimal due to complex etiologies and intricate tumor biology.
Through serological profiling across three independent cohorts, researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have identified a common epitope (CE1) shared among protective viral antigens enriched in healthy individuals compared to HCC patients. A synthetic CE1 peptide was demonstrated to have utility in eliciting a T cell response to HCC cells and can be developed as an immunotherapy for HCC, such as a CE1-based HCC vaccine. Currently, as there are limited therapeutic options for HCC patients, novel treatments would offer tremendous commercial and public health benefits.