Invention:
This invention describes a novel cancer therapy method that induces cell death mechanisms in only cancer cells.
Background:
The current standard of care for cancer therapy in many cases is chemotherapy. Chemotherapy, like many cancer treatments, causes significant amounts of healthy cells to die in addition to the cancer cells, leading to the well-known toxic side-effects. Additionally, treatments like cytotoxic gene therapy cause cells to express cytotoxic proteins, leading to cell death. This is a very effective tool but has not yet been refined to only allow cancer cells to be impacted. This demonstrates that a significant challenge to cancer treatment is the inability to target cancer-specific cells.
The inventors have proposed a novel cytotoxic gene therapy approach in which only cancer cells or cells with specific mutated proteins are induced to express the cytotoxic protein that leads to cell death.
Applications:
Advantages:
- Targeted and specific to cancer cells
- Reduces unwanted toxicity
