Suppression of Therapeutic Escape in Breast Cancer by BTK Inhibition

Background:

Genes that regulate extracellular growth, differentiation, and developmental signals are commonly mutated in cancers. Protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) mediate the reversible process of tyrosine phosphorylation, providing the signals that activate or block signal transduction pathways that govern cell survival. As such, PTKs comprise the largest group of dominant oncogenes. In recent years, there have been increased efforts to discover genes critical to cancer signaling pathways that, when inhibited, would provide specific anti-cancer therapies. While a number of inhibitors have been reported, it is not clear whether they possess the appropriate pharmacological properties to be therapeutically useful. Therefore, there is a continued need for small molecule inhibitors to provide effective inhibition. Such compounds would be extremely useful in treating disease states where inhibition could play a role.

Technology Overview:

This technology is a method of treating cancers, for example breast cancers, based on PTK inhibition. This can include an inhibitor of a tyrosine kinase. This inhibitor can be ibrutinib (PCI-32765), AVL-292, or CGI-1746. The inhibitors can also include EGFR inhibitors, such as lapatinib, gefitinib, erlotinib, cetuximab, panitumumab, or vandetanib. A variety of therapeutics can be formulated through different combinations of these inhibitors. These therapeutics can be administered to the patient sequentially, or in some instances simultaneously. Research indicates that in some cases, these inhibitors result in reduced proliferation of at least some cancer cells within the patient, offering the possibility for the development of new and novel cancer treatments.

Advantages:

•    Versatile – can treat several forms of breast cancer.
•    Effective – tests indicate reduction of at least some cancer cells in patients.
•    Novel – takes advantage of inhibitors to offer several different potential cancer therapeutics.

Applications:

The primary application for this technology is developing PTK-inhibitor-based treatments for cancer.

Intellectual Property Summary:

Issued patent: US10668068B2, “Treating cancer with drug combinations,” filed June 2, 2020 (see https://patents.google.com/patent/US10668068B2/en?oq=14%2f877%2c300). 
 

Stage of Development:

TRL 3 – Experimental proof of concept

Licensing Status:

This technology is available for licensing

Licensing Potential:

This technology would be of interest to facilities involved in research that identifies and develops pharmaceuticals that target cancer. These include:
•    Pharmaceutical manufacturers.
•    Universities.
•    Medical research laboratories.