This sound interesting: *smart targeting with pro-drug activation*
prnewswire.com
Anyone in US who may work on similar method-approach?
I know for liposomes encapsulated cytotoxic agent conjugated with receptor/antigen mAb, but this is with reactive enzyme.
Miljenko
PS: This will be ideal for pro-molecules like *pro-MGI-114*!
Antisoma Demonstrates Feasibility of Novel Cancer Therapy Approach
LONDON, April 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Antisoma plc (Easdaq: ASOM), the UK-based,biopharmaceutical company, today presents data at the 90th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) demonstrating a further step forward in the development of AGENT, a novel technology with potential applications in the treatment of a wide variety of cancer types. Professor Agamemnon Epenetos, Antisoma's co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer and inventor of the patented AGENT (Antibody Guided Enzyme Nitrile Therapy)
technology, will describe the Company's progress towards designing and
producing a functional lead product candidate.
Currently-marketed chemotherapeutic drugs kill healthy cells as well as cancer cells. This causes serious side effects such as nausea, vomiting, hair loss and a vulnerability to infection. The AGENT technology is a two-step process in which two non-toxic and relatively safe molecules will be injected sequentially. The two molecules meet on the surface of a tumour cell where an acute poison will be generated with the potential to destroy the cancer. The
first step uses the natural targeting ability of an antibody to home in to the tumour site. The antibody carries an enzyme able to activate a stable prodrug, administered as the second step, into a lethal cyanide molecule directly at the cancer cell surface.
In collaboration with scientists in the Department of Biochemistry at
London's Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, the Department of Biochemistry and Genetics, University of Newcastle and the Cancer Research Campaign's Targeting and Imaging Group at the Royal Free Hospital, a recombinant antibody-enzyme complex has been constructed and the resultant bifunctional protein produced in a yeast expression system. The data presented by Professor Epenetos will show that the novel molecule retains both its targeting and its enzyme activity.
"Although this is clearly at an early stage, the successful expression of a recombinant molecule that retains full functionality is an important step towards defining a lead product candidate for cancer therapy based on the AGENT principle", said Professor Epenetos. "Antisoma's strategy is to develop innovative tumour targeting therapies that have been in-licensed from, or
developed in collaboration with, leading academic research groups. The progress we're making with the AGENT technology is another example of a fruitful collaboration with excellent research scientists in London. We will monitor the progress of this work to determine how Antisoma can capitalise on our investment".
SOURCE Antisoma plc
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