Search Technologies

Researchers at the NCI have developed a treatment for prostate and breast cancer using multivalent peptides derived from TARP, the T cell receptor gamma alternate reading frame protein. These immunogenic peptides from TARP elicit an immune response, triggering T cells to kill only the cancer cells within a patient. NCI seeks licensees or co-development partners to commercialize this invention.

There is a need to develop compounds that can sensitize cancer cells to apoptosis inducing ligands, such as poly I:C and TRAIL. In collaboration with the University of Arizona, NCI investigators discovered a series of compounds in the withanolide family that synergistically enhance the response of cancer cells to treatment with an apoptosis-inducing ligand. The NCI seeks licensing and/or co-development research collaborations for development of withanolide E analogues for the treatment of cancer.

The National Cancer Institute's Laboratory of Experimental Immunology, Cancer Inflammation Program, seeks parties interested in collaborative research to co-develop, evaluate, or commercialize the use of certain cucurbatacins or withanolides in combination with pro-apoptotic agonists of TRAIL death receptors for cancer therapy.

Researchers at the NCI have developed a vaccine technology that stimulates the immune system to selectively destroy metastasizing cells. Stimulation of T cells with the Brachyury peptide promote a robust immune response and lead to targeted lysis of invasive tumor cells. NCI seeks licensing or co-development of this invention.

Chk2 is a protein kinase activated in response to DNA double strand breaks. In normal tissues, Chk2 phosphorylates and thereby activates substrates that induce programmed cell death, or apoptosis, via interactions with p53, E2F1, PML proteins. In cancer tissues, where apoptosis is suppressed, Chk2 phosphorylates and inactivates cell cycle checkpoints (via interactions with Cdc25, phosphatases and Brca1 proteins), which allows cancer cells to repair and tolerate DNA damage. Hence, Chk2 inhibitors would be expected to protect normal tissues by reducing apoptosis, and to sensitize cancer cells to DNA-targeted agents. The National Cancer Institute seeks licensees for small molecule inhibitors of Chk2 for the treatment of cancer.

The National Cancer Institute seeks parties interested in licensing or collaborative research to co-develop RNA nanostructures using computational and synthetic methods.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) seeks research co-development partners and/or licensees for a method of direct identification of neoantigen-specific TCRs from tumor specimens by high-throughput single-cell sequencing.

Recent research has demonstrated that neoantigen-specific T-cell receptors (TCRs) can be isolated from a cancer patient’s lymphocytes. These TCRs may be used to engineer populations of tumor-reactive T cells for cancer immunotherapies. Obtaining sequences of these functional TCRs is a critical initial step in preparing this type of personalized cancer treatment; however, current methods are time-consuming and labor-intensive. Scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have developed a rapid and robust method of isolating the sequences of mutation-specific TCRs to alleviate these issues; they seek licensing and/or co-development research collaborations for the development of a method for isolating the sequences of tumor-reactive TCRs. For collaboration opportunities, please contact Steven A. Rosenberg, M.D., Ph.D. at sar@nih.gov.

The National Cancer Institute's Cancer and Inflammation Program is seeking statements of capability or interest from parties interested in licensing monoclonal antibodies to IGF-1 and IGF-II for the treatment of cancer.