Further clinical support for ROR1 as a diagnostic tool and therapeutic target
2011-12-06
Kancera co-founder and scientific adviser Professor Håkan Mellstedt has demonstrated a sustained presence of Kancera’s ROR1 target over time in patients with non-progressive disease and also a significant increase of this putative tumor target in patients with progressive stages of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
These novel clinical findings bring further assurance of ROR1 as a valuable diagnostic tool and therapeutic target in patients with poor clinical outlook and aggressive forms of CLL, says Thomas Olin, CEO Kancera AB.
About ROR
ROR consists of a family of proteins that gives cells signals for growth and survival, so-called receptors. Originally ROR werelinked to fetus development, but now we know that they also play a role in the growth and spread of cancer cells. The ROR family consists of two receptors, ROR-1 and ROR-2. Due to the fact that ROR receptors mainly generate a survival and development signal in tumor cells, but are not active in healthy cells in adults, it is likely that a drug that targets ROR will attack a tumor much more forcefully than healthy tissue. Kancera’s founders and other scientists have also reported that blocking ROR results in certain cancer cells eliminating themselves through cellular suicide. Based on this, there is reason to assume that a ROR-targeted drug is both safer and more effective than the unselective types of chemotherapy used to treat cancer today.