科学家希望将新型抗癌技术推向市场化

  近期，石溪大学同CadheRx Therapeutics公司获得了开发并且使得抗癌技术市场化的许可，这种新型抗癌技术包括利用以抗体为基础的癌症疗法，而以抗体作为基础的癌症疗法可以下调和耐受性疾病相关的大量通路，而这种新型的抗癌技术或可帮助治疗多种癌症患者，包括乳腺癌、结直肠癌、肺癌、皮肤癌等。
  CadheRx Therapeutics公司是一家创业公司，主要由阿瓦隆公司提供财政支持，目前该公司将会开发靶向作用可溶性上皮细胞钙粘蛋白的新型治疗性抗体，用于进行耐药性实体瘤的治疗，尤其是对常见的药物赫赛汀和西妥昔单抗产生耐药；更重要的是可溶性上皮细胞钙粘蛋白在很多实体瘤中水平均较高，而且其可以增强肿瘤细胞的增殖、迁移以及侵袭。
  研究者Samuel L. Stanley博士指出，我们非常高兴，因为前期的基础性研究可以有效且明显改善很多患者的健康，癌症在全世界范围内影响很多人的健康，而致力于新型抗癌技术的研究或将为抵御许多类型的癌症带来帮助。当前抗癌疗法的一个明显弊端就是，尽管刚开始疗可以有效抵御实体瘤，但病人往往会对疗法产生耐受；而在实验室研究中研究者则发现，一种基于抗体的新型癌症疗法相比常见的药物而言，其可以通过一种完全不同的机制来帮助抵御实体瘤的进展。值得注意的是，抗体疗法可以下调多种癌症耐药性通路，从而减少癌细胞扩散以及恶化的能力。
  目前研究者在多种上皮细胞衍生的癌细胞系以及临床前癌症模型中检测了这种抗体疗法效果，后期他们还及那个通过研究来阐明这种新型疗法的疗效，研究者表示，由于这种新型抗癌技术可以在不损伤健康细胞和组织的情况下，还对癌细胞具有选择性地毒性作用，因此后期研究者计划将这种抗癌技术推向市场，使其市场化，这或许有助于更多癌症患者的治疗。（转化医学网360zhyx.com）
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Bringing anti-cancer technology to market

The agreement involves CadheRx Therapeutics in-licensing the intellectual property developed from the laboratory of Dr. Brouxhon. The company is financially backed by Avalon Ventures and is one of six start-up companies formed out of a collaboration between Avalon Ventures and GSK that was established in April 2013 to fund up to a total of 10 new companies through a preclinical proof of concept. CadheRx will develop therapeutic antibodies targeting soluble E-cadherin for the treatment of solid tumors that display resistance, particularly to the commonly used drugs Herceptin and Cetuximab. Importantly, soluble E-cadherin levels are increased in the milieu of many solid tumors and contributes to enhanced tumor cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, which is linked to metastatic disease.

"Today's announcement marks another example of the life-changing impact of treatments and discoveries founded on SUNY campuses," said SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher. "Projects supported by SUNY TAF funding have an astounding effect on the health and well-being of New York's citizens, industries, and communities. Congratulations to Dr. Brouxhon and Stony Brook University on this tremendous collaboration and achievement."

"It's extraordinarily exciting to see a basic research discovery from a Stony Brook University scientist turn into something that might improve people's lives in a very powerful way," said Samuel L. Stanley Jr., MD, President of Stony Brook University. "Cancer affects millions of people worldwide, and Dr. Brouxhon's work on this new anti-cancer technology offers continued hope in the fight against many forms of cancer."

"One of the most significant drawbacks from current cancer treatments is that despite their initial effectiveness against solid tumors, patients often develop resistance to these treatments," said Dr. Brouxhon. "Our lab has discovered a novel antibody-based cancer therapy that acts through a completely different mechanism of action compared to existing drugs in industry. Notably, the antibody down-regulates multiple resistant pathways, thereby minimizing the cancer cells ability to recruit many interconnected oncogenes that are linked with resistant disease."

Dr. Brouxhon and colleagues have successfully tested the antibody therapy on several National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated epithelial-derived cancer cell lines and preclinical cancer models. Additional studies by her laboratory have shown that the agent is selectively cytotoxic to cancer cells while not harming healthy cells or tissues. This could prove to be another advantage to the potential therapy, as conventional chemotherapy tends to destroy healthy tissues.

The research leading to the discovery began at Stony Brook in 2010. In 2013, Dr. Brouxhon received a SUNY Technology Accelerator Fund (TAF) award from the SUNY Research Foundation to accelerate the development of the anti-cancer technology and help bring it to commercialization. The research has also been supported by the NIH, the Komen Foundation and Stony Brook University start-up funding.

Dr. Brouxhon will consult with CadheRx to further advance the anti-cancer technology.