A novel therapy method for delivering localized anti-cancer responses without adverse body-wide side effects.
Problem Solved by the Technology
Despite remarkable success at identifying tumor-associated antigens (TAA), generating effective anti-tumor immune response has not been successful at eliminating tumors. Systemically administered active drugs often have profound side-effects which can be toxic or poorly tolerated. Local administration, however, is not always feasible because it is invasive or the targeted location is poorly defined or widely dispersed.
Applications
Researchers at the University of Rochester have developed an approach with the potential to overcome many of the challenges current anti-cancer therapies pose. The inventors describe a way of designing fusion proteins that can be systematically delivered but are only activated at the tumor site as a result of cleavage by tumor specific proteases. This method delivers an inactive cytokine systemically and activates it locally in a tumor microenvironment.
Publication
Puskas J. et al Development of an Attenuated Interleukin-2 Fusion Protein that Can Be Activated by Tumor Expressed Proteases. Immunology. 2011 Jun;133(2):206-20.
UR Ventures Reference Number: 6-1665