Peptide Biomakers

About

Overview Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide accounting for approximately 7 million deaths annually. Amongst women, breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality. The holy grail of cancer research is to discover what makes cancer cells different from normal cells. One such difference lies in the proteins that are produced in cancer cell. We developed a method to identify a select pool of proteins from cancer cells and use this pool as 'bait' to fish for small molecules that recognise proteins unique to the cancer cell. The novel 'Recogniser' molecules identified by this approach represent a unique barcode of the cancer cell. How Best to Identify Proteins Unique to Cancer Cells That Can be Developed as Cancer Biomarkers? The general pool of proteins in a cancer cell is vastly similar to the pool present in normal cells. Need to find a sub-population within the general protein pool that harbours tumour-specific proteins. Heat Shock Proteins (HSPs) are molecular chaperones that act at the cross-roads of protein production in the cell. HSPs bind to peptides generated from cellular proteins. Certain HSP70-associated peptides can activate anti-tumour immune response in patients. The HSP70-associated peptide pool acts as a barcode of a cancer cells activity. The Technology developed in the Bond Lab identifies Small Synthetic Molecules that specifically recognise the peptides within the HSP70 pool. HSP70-associated peptides are used as a bait to fish out unique cancer cell recogniser molecules using Phage Display Technology. Applications Recogniser molecules can be used; As probes to distinguish between tumour and non-tumour cells. To identify unique proteins that are over-expressed or altered in tumour cells. To target anti-cancer therapeutics directly to cancer cells. Technology and Patent Status The technology involves using a unique approach to select a pool of peptides from cancer cells. The peptide pool is used as bait to fish for recogniser molecules within a phage display library. Phages are small viruses that have been developed to display random 7-mer peptides on the cell surface. Peptides that bind to the 7-mers are selected and subjected to up to ten such rounds of selection. This ensures only the strongest binders are isolated. Significant progress has been made to identify cellular targets of the peptide as well as their mimics suitable for adoptive immunotherapy. A priority patent application entitled 'Novel Biomarkers for Breast Tumours from Hsp70-associated peptides' has been filed with the UK patent office [GB15736.911, TCD Ref: UB01-317-01] The Opportunity This technology is currently available for license to a company interested in Cancer Biomarker Development or is suitable for a start up company. Please contact us if you are interested in being involved in a start-up company aimed at commercialising this exciting, high growth potential technology. If you are interested in continued research in this area, there are various support mechanisms and grants suitable for furthering the development of this technology.