Background:
The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's
Laboratory of Development Neurobiology is seeking statements of
capability or interest from parties interested in collaborative
research to further develop, evaluate, or commercialize methods for
predicting and detecting tumor metastasis.
Detecting cancer prior to metastasis greatly increases the efficacy
of treatment and the chances of patient survival. Although
numerous biomarkers have been reported to identify aggressive tumor
types and predict prognosis, each biomarker is specific for a
particular type of cancer, and no universal marker that can predict
metastasis in a number of cancers has been identified. In
addition, due to a lack of reliability, several markers are
typically required to determine the prognosis and course of
therapy.
Technology:
The inventors discovered a novel Carboxypeptidase E. (CPE) splice
variant designated
(CPE-deltaN)
and found its expression levels increase according to the presence
of cancer and metastasis. This variant is upregulated in tumors and
further increased in metastatic cancer. This data has been
demonstrated in both in vitro and in vivo experiments and in liver,
breast, prostate, colon, and head and neck cancers.
Metastatic liver cells treated with
(CPE-deltaN) siRNA reversed the cells from being
metastatic and arrested cells from further metastasis. Thus,
this novel CPE isoform is a biomarker for predicting metastasis and
its inhibitors have an enormous potential to increase patient
survival.
Further R&D Needed: In vivo
validation of method
R&D Status: Pre-clinical
discovery
IP Status: U.S. Provisional
Application No. 61/080,508 filed 14 Jul 2008
Value Proposition:
- Methods to prognose multiple types of cancer and determine
likelihood of metastasis
- Potential to prevent and treat cancer with CPE inhibitors
Contact Information:
Joseph M. Conrad, Ph.D., J.D.
NCI Technology Transfer Center
Tel.: 301-435-3107
Email: conradj@mail.nih.gov
Please reference advertisement #804
Revised 12/30/2008