Development of carbohydrate based anticancer agents

Project Information

CarboMed

Grant agreement ID: 101082163

DOI

10.3030/101082163

Project closed

EC signature date 22 July 2022

Start date 1 September 2022

End date 29 February 2024

Funded under

• European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 150 000,00

Coordinated by

STICHTING RADBOUD UNIVERSITEIT
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CarboMed (Development of carbohydrate based anticancer agents)

Reporting period: 2022-09-01 to 2024-02-29

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Carbohydrates (glycans) coat the cell of every organism. The glycosylation pattern of cancer cells is, however, very different from that of healthy cells and is associated with aggressive and invasive forms of cancers. By combining our knowledge on carbohydrate chemistry, cancer immunology with the drug discovery and medicinal chemistry of our ERC project GlycoEdit, we found carbohydrate based inhibitors that selectively target the biosynthesis of the cancer-cell protecting carbohydrate coat. By doing so, it was found they it can severely cripple the cancer's ability to grow and metastasize and trigger immune mediated killing. Our lead candidate is a potent and selective metabolic inhibitor of the fucosylation biosynthesis pathway and therefore offers a rich and promising frontier for the development of a glycan-based therapy for cancer.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The CarboMed project has led to the assessment of the commercial viability of carbohydrate based inhibitors that could serve as next-generation therapeutics to treat cancer in the clinic.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

In this project, we have delivered technical and commercial proof-of-concept to ultimately enable clinical studies. The intellectual property is now licenced to GlycoTherapeutics B.V. which will further investigate the (pre)clinical potential of this technology.