There is a clear unmet medical need for a subset of cancer patient population, 10-20% of all tumors, which rely on an alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) mechanisms to allow their growth. ALT positive tumors are generally more aggressive and resistant to radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
Thanks to the support of the ERC, we could extend the study of the impact of our anticancer approach to different human cancer cell lines. By doing so, we could confirm its efficacy and, most importantly, characterize better its specificity.
We also performed several experiments to establish a tentative mechanism of action, investigating the impact of our treatment at both the molecular and cellular level. Finally we tested its efficacy in in vivo cancer models, providing a strong preclinical evidence for a potential therapeutic application.
Importantly we have conducted the experimental activities always in tight conjunction with the exploitation of the results for maximizing the testing and commercial efforts.
The conclusions of these studies make us confident on the potential of our approach.
