Licensing Portfolio - Biomarkers
Validation. Peptides which potently and selectively bind to the integrin ανβ6 have been developed. The structural motif required for binding has been elucidated, and the consensus sequence is protected by a patent application. The peptides have utility for targeting tumours in which the integrin is over-expressed (including oral, pancreatic, ovarian, lung, colorectal and breast). The peptides have applications in tumour imaging as well as in cancer therapy via targeting of payloads and functional inhibition of ανβ6. The ability of radiolabelled versions of the peptide to selectively localise to ανβ6-expressing tumours in vivo has been demonstrated by PET and SPECT.
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Validation. Over 1.3 million people worldwide are diagnosed with lung cancer each year. CRT’s technology offers a rapid and cost effective approach for the diagnosis of lung cancer based on MCM detection in sputum. A study of 597 patients has revealed that combining sputum MCM immunocytochemistry testing with chest X-rays offers equivalent sensitivity and specificity values as the standard diagnostic approach of sputum cytology and X-rays. The MCM/X-rays combination test provides the advantage of being a simpler and more rapid procedure. In addition, the method has the potential to significantly decrease the number of patients requiring follow-on diagnostic testing and removes the requirement for a highly skilled cytopathologist at initial diagnosis, resulting in a substantial cost saving. CRT is looking for a partner to develop a MCM sputum-based diagnostic test under a licence to a granted multiple-territory portfolio of patents on the target antigen and MCM specific antibodies.
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Discovery. There is an urgent need for the development of early diagnostic tests for cancer. Members of the IgLON family including OPCML (OBCAM) and NTM were identified as tumour suppressor genes in ovarian cancer but are now known to be frequently inactivated in a wide range of other tumour types. Decreased expression of OPCML is an early event, and is a result of promoter CpG island methylation in the majority of cases. Detection of OPCML expression levels or methylation status has significant diagnostic potential whereas inhibition of OPCML promoter methylation or re-expression of OPCML may have therapeutic application. A patent portfolio and development data are available for exclusive licensing.
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