Kancera file patents for ROR inhibitors against cancer
2012-02-03
Kancera reports that the company has registered a patent application (EP12153357) for new substances that prevents the ability of the cancer to survive. The new patent is based on Kancera’s ROR technology directed against both leukemia and solid tumors. Kancera’s candidate drugs have been shown to act specifically at cancer cells while healthy white blood cells are being saved. This opens opportunities for developing effective targeted cancer treatments that allow the patient’s healthy functions to be maintained.
Kancera presents the project at the “6th Swiss-Scandinavian Bio-Business Seminar” on February 8, 2012, in Zurich, Switzerland.
Kancera has previously reported that the company’s active ingredients against ROR is 25 times more specific than Fludarabine which is the most common drug used today to treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Kancera has also reported results showing that the amount of activated ROR in aggressive cancer cells from pancreas is high and that Kancera’s active substances in laboratory experiments effectively kill these cells already within two days from start of the experimental treatment.
About the ROR-project
ROR consists of a family of proteins that gives cells signals for growth and survival, so-called receptors. Originally ROR was linked 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.