Project ID: D2013-04
Background
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. More than 80% of the lung cancer deaths belong to non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The 5-year survival rate of patients with NSCLC is about 16% with current treatments including surgery, radiation and other classic chemotherapeutic agents and targeted therapies. It is thus essential to pursue novel ways to treat this disease more effectively.
Invention Description
Researchers from The University of Toledo have developed a new class of small drug-like molecules with remarkable selectivity for NSCLC. NCI-H522 cancer cells treated with the molecules were completely killed after 13 hours of treatment. The molecules developed showed striking selectivity and were toxic only to a subset of cancer and non-cancer cell lines tested.
Applications
• The small drug-like molecules may be used as highly selective anticancer agents for NSCLC therapy
Advantages
• The synthesis of the molecules is done in only a few steps and is very efficient
• The procedure for the synthesis of the molecules is amenable to process chemistry and results in very high yields
• The molecules showed high selectivity in in vitro experiments
• Solubility and stability studies have been performed
• Preliminary in vivo toxicity data in mice is available
IP Status: US Patent Pending
Publications: Taylor, WR et al. Small-Molecule Ferroptotic Agents with Potential to Selectively Target Cancer Stem Cells. Scientific Reports volume 9, Article number: 5926 (2019)