Tumor-cell Specific Adenoviral Vector Replication and Gene Expression
Introduction One of the greatest challenges in tumor gene therapy is to deliver an anti-tumor vector to every cell in the primary tumor and all distant metastases. This includes cells in the center of a tumor without direct contact to vasculature. First-generation adenovirus vectors are attractive for cancer therapy because of their potential to transduce all tumor sites after systemic application. Technology description Researchers at the University of Washington have developed modified recombinant adenovirus vectors which undergo defined homologous recombination in order to create predictably rearranged genomic derivatives in a host cell. These vectors are useful for regulating transgene expression in cells such as tumor cells and, therefore, for treatment of a variety of cancers. Due to a deletion in the E1 region, these vectors are highly replicationdefective in normal cells. Viral spread may be facilitated by induction of apoptosis, thereby enhancing virus release from infected cells, infection of surrounding tumor cells and increased tumor cell lysis. This invention has the potential to treat Burkitt’s lymphoma, nasalpharyngeal carcinoma, Hodgkins lymphoma, T cell lymphoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, or polyoma-induced solid tumor. Business Opportunity Hepatocellular carcinoma is the fifth most common cancer in men and the eighth most common cancer in women worldwide. An estimated 560,000 new cases are diagnosed annually. There are about 7880 cases of Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the United States this year. Approximately 6,885 new cases of T-cell lymphoma diagnosed annually. Burkitt's lymphoma is a relatively rare disease in Western countries, but is common in Central Africa. Incidence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma is approximately 1 in every 100,000 children annually among white children in North America and Europe.Patents:
US 6,686,196
Type of Offer: Licensing
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