IFN-gamma and IL-10 are cytokine signaling molecules that play fundamental roles in inflammation, cancer growth and autoimmune diseases. Unfortunately, there are no specific inhibitors of IFN-gamma or IL-10 on the market to date.
Currently available topical antibiotic formulations effectively eliminate bacteria at a wound site. Eliminating bacteria in the wound also eliminates the molecular signals present in bacterial DNA that stimulate the immune system's wound healing processes. Without these signals, the rate of wound healing is diminished.
The National Cancer Institute, Nanobiology Program seeks parties interested in collaborative research to co-develop engineered molecules therapies.
The National Cancer Institute's Laboratory of Cell Biology is seeking statements of capability or interest from parties interested in collaborative research to further develop, evaluate, or commercialize the use of DKK1 to treat abnormal pigmentation of the skin or to regulate hair growth.
Scientists at the NCI's Surgery Branch have developed anti-CD70 chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) to treat cancers. CD70 is an antigen that is expressed on a variety of human cancers such as renal cell carcinoma, glioblastoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The anti-CD70 CARs are hybrid proteins consisting of a receptor portion that recognizes CD70 antigen, and intracellular T cell signaling domains selected to optimally activate the CAR expressing T cells.
Natural killer T cells (NKT) are a unique lymphocyte population that has T-cell and NK cell functional properties in order to rapidly elicit an immune response. alpha-galactosylceramide (alpha-GalCer) is a potent NKT stimulator and induces of IFN-gamma release to promote immunity against tumors and infectious agents. Humans have natural antibodies against alpha-galactose, which may be one of the reasons why the human clinical trials of alpha-GalCer or KRN7000 were not very successful.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is seeking interested parties to license or co-develop GDNFOS peptides and non-coding RNAs as therapeutic agents for neurodegenerative diseases.
KRAS and other Ras-family enzymes are an important component of over 30% of human cancers, however, no effective therapeutics targeting Ras or Ras-driven cancers are currently available. The production of Ras proteins in vitro is required for the identification and characterization of Ras targeting drugs. An important step in producing the Ras protein involves prenylation of the C-terminus of the protein via farnesyltransferase, a modification that does not occur in prokaryotic organisms. Previous attempts to generate properly processed Ras in eukaryotic cells has
POTE is a novel tumor antigen expressed in a variety of cancers including breast, prostate, colon, lung, ovary, and pancreas cancers. POTE has limited expression in normal tissues and therefore a specific target for cancer treatments, including immunotherapy. The researchers seek statements of capability or interest from parties interested in collaborative research to further develop, evaluate, or commercialize immunogenic peptides.
Mesothelin is a cell surface protein that is highly expressed in aggressive cancers, such as malignant mesothelioma, ovarian cancer and pancreatic cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, bile duct carcinoma and gastric cancer. Because of this selective expression, mesothelin is an excellent candidate for targeted therapeutics, such as monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and chimeric molecules. Current anti-mesothelin therapeutic mAb candidates bind to an epitope in Region I of mesothelin. Unfortunately, Region I contains the interaction site MUC16/CA125, a mesothe