Descrizione del progetto
Un nuovo trattamento anti-metastatico contro il carcinoma mammario triplo negativo
Il carcinoma mammario triplo negativo (Triple Negative Breast Cancer, TNBC) è una forma aggressiva di cancro al seno caratterizzata da un’elevata propensione alla metastasi. Questo tipo di tumore non esprime alcun recettore estrogeno e, di conseguenza, sono disponibili meno opzioni di trattamento specifico in grado di garantire un risultato efficiente. Il progetto CanceRusolution, finanziato dall’UE, ha sviluppato un farmaco citostatico che bersaglia il citoscheletro delle cellule TNBC, arrestandone il potenziale metastatico e quindi la relativa aggressività. I ricercatori hanno in programma di testare il trattamento in un modello animale di TNBC e di effettuare l’analisi farmacocinetica. L’estensione della produzione di questo trattamento al livello clinico spianerà la strada alla sua sperimentazione clinica, con significative ripercussioni per la futura gestione del TNBC.
Obiettivo
R-nuucell is developing a new drug to treat Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) for which there is not any specific and efficient treatment in the market, making this disease an unmet clinical need.
The aggressivity of TNBC is due to the easiness of its metastization expanding the cancer through the body inevitably leading to death. So far, we gathered a set of results showing the antimetastatic potential of our new drug which mode of action would, conceptually, be able to eliminate the deadliest feature of cancer cells – their ability to invade and metastasize. This happens because the target of our drug is the cells’ foundation (ie the cytoskeleton). Thus, destroying the cytoskeleton of cells is like shaking the foundations of a house, it will be tumble-down!
With the Women TechEU program we will consolidate the proof-of-concept of the drug’s efficiency against metastases through two sets of in vivo studies in nude mice, and we will start the pre-clinical studies by performing pharmacokinetics (drug absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion). Also, in view of the natural future development of our drug we will start to develop its synthesis scale-up from the milligram to the multigram scale.
Women TechEU program mentoring and coaching will be also key to consolidate our business plan and to approach partners and investors towards a fundraising Level A in the near future. This level of funding (~1 M€) will enable to finish our pre-clinical studies and place R-nuucell in the position to license its international patent, one of the company’s assets (PT108082B, EA038640B1, EP3227307B1, CN107466297B, JP6726678B2, US15/533,289, under examination on Canada, Brazil and India), to a pharmaceutical company using a “business-to-business” strategy.
Campo scientifico
Programma(i)
- HORIZON.3.2 - European innovation ecosystems Main Programme
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
HORIZON-AG-LS - HORIZON Lump Sum GrantCoordinatore
1749-016 LISBOA
Portogallo
L’organizzazione si è definita una PMI (piccola e media impresa) al momento della firma dell’accordo di sovvenzione.