Treatment of Bladder and Urinary Tract Cancers Using Chalcone and Flavone Derivatives

Background: About 56,000 new cases of bladder cancer are diagnosed in the United States each year and approximately 12,000 Americans will die of the disease. Drawbacks of older cisplatin based therapies, such as MVAC, include toxicity and poor patient tolerance. Newer therapies such as paclitaxel do not demonstrate the ability to improve patient survival or the ability to prolong response duration. Thus the search for improved therapies is imperative. Technology: Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have demonstrated that naturally occurring phytochemicals, certain chalcones and flavones, found in a plant extract can potently inhibit bladder cancer cell growth in a time and dose-dependent manner in cell cultures. These phytochemicals induce activation of caspase 9 and 3 and induce cleavage of PARP in bladder cancer T24 cells. Both the activation of caspase 9 and 3, and PARP are indicative of cancer cell apoptosis. Application: The chalcone and flavone derivatives of this invention are useful for the treatment of bladder cancer and are non-toxic as compared to the currently approved, investigational therapeutic agents which are also highly toxic. These derivatives are also strong antioxidants and can be used in combination with one or more cancer therapeutic agents currently on the market.

Patents:
US 7,326,734

Type of Offer: Licensing



« More Pharmaceutical Patents

---