Researchers at the National Cancer Institute’s Biopharmaceutical Development Program recently developed massively parallel sequencing methods for virus-derived therapeutics such as viral vaccines and oncolytic immunotherapies.
This technology provides improved processes for production and purification of nucleic acid-containing compositions, such as non-naturally occurring viruses, for example, recombinant polioviruses that can be employed as oncolytic agents. Some of the improved processes relate to improved processes for producing viral DNA template.
The AKT pathway plays a key role in the regulation of cellular survival, apoptosis, and protein translation and has been shown to have prognostic significance in a number of cancers. Recently, the inventors have identified several functions of the AKT pathway in certain cancers, such as extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (EHCC).
B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) is a cancer characterized by a progressive accumulation of functionally incompetent lymphocytes. Despite high morbidity and mortality, the only available potential cure is allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCST). However, there is less than a 50% chance of finding a matching bone marrow or blood donor for B-CLL patients. Other clinically tested targeted therapies such as rituximab and alemtuzumab target both malignant and normal B cells, resulting in immunosuppression.
The development of an effective HIV vaccine has been an ongoing area of research. The high variability in HIV-1 virus strains has represented a major challenge in successful development. Ideally, an effective candidate vaccine would provide protection against the majority of clades of HIV. Two major hurdles to overcome are immunodominance and sequence diversity. This vaccine utilizes a strategy for overcoming these two issues by identifying the conserved regions of the virus and exploiting them for use in a targeted therapy.
The high mortality rate from ovarian cancers can be attributed to late-stage diagnosis and lack of effective treatment. Despite enormous effort to develop better targeted therapies, platinum-based chemotherapy still remains the standard of care for ovarian cancer patients, and resistance occurs at a high rate. One of the rate limiting factors for translation of new drug discoveries into clinical treatments has been the lack of suitable preclinical cancer models with high predictive value.
The glycoprotein CD56, also known as a neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM), plays an important role in normal physiological functions. It is expressed in low levels in normal cells such as neurons, glia, skeletal muscle and natural killer cells.
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) Immunoepidemiology Branch is seeking statements of capability or interest from parties interested in collaborative research to further co-develop a gene-based diagnostic for Hepatitis C virus (HepC, HCV).
Certain members of the cucurbitacin and Withanolide family have been identified that can sensitize some tumor cell lines to cell death (apoptosis) on subsequent exposure of the cells to pro-apoptotic receptor agonists (PARAS) of the TRAIL "death receptors". These PARAS include TRAIL itself, and agonist antibodies to two of its receptors death receptor-4 (DR4 or TRAIL-R1) and death receptor 5 (DR5, TRAIL-R2).
Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and consists of three subtypes: activated B-cell (ABC), germinal center B-cell (GBC), and primary mediastinal B-cell (PMB). Despite advances in the front-line therapy for DLBCL, approximately one-third of patients will relapse. Substantially worse outcomes have been reported for patients diagnosed with ABC DLBCL and treated with standard chemoimmunotherapy, suggesting the need for novel strategies that improve treatment outcomes.