The present invention relates to a bacteriophage, or a composition that comprises it, comprising and/or expressing at least one ligand targeting disialoganglioside (GD2) and to its medical or diagnostic uses.
| Patent title | BACTERIOPHAGES AND THEIR USES FOR TARGETING GD2-EXPRESSING CANCER CELLS |
|---|---|
| Thematic area | Health |
| Ownership | ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - UNIVERSITA' DI BOLOGNA |
| Inventors | Matteo Calvaresi, Matteo Di Giosia, Giovanni Perini, Paolo Emidio Costantini, Roberto Saporetti, Piergiuseppe De Rosa, Luca Ulfo, Suleman Khan Zadran, Alberto Danielli |
| Protection | Italy (opportunity for seeking patent protection internationally) |
| Licensing status | Available for development agreements, options, licenses, and other valorization agreements. |
| Keywords | targeting vector, therapeutic vector, bacteriophage (phage), cancer therapy, molecular biotechnology, synthetic biology, nanobiotechnology, targeting therapy, light, photodynamic therapy, GD2 |
| Filed on | 16 May 2023 |
Neuroblastoma (NB) is one of the most common pediatric neuroendocrine tumors, originating from sympathoadrenergic precursor cells derived from the neural crest, and accounts for 15% of total pediatric cancer deaths. Patients with these neuroendocrine tumors often present in early childhood, with heterogeneous clinical features and a high tendency for metastasis. These characteristics make it an aggressive malignant tumor associated with an unfavorable prognosis. Recent treatments for high-risk neuroblastoma include conventional chemotherapy, radiotherapy, autologous stem cell transplantation, surgical resection, and immunotherapy. However, therapies developed to date have shown insufficient results with high costs, poor specificity, and inadequate drug penetration into the tumor microenvironment.
This invention allows an orthogonal approach to use the M13 phage as a retargeting platform for NB cells.The system provides strong evidence of specificity and sensitivity for GD2+ cells, having no binding on GD2- cells. Moreover, the phage platform can selectively kill NB cells when conjugatied with the Rose Bangal fotosensitizer.
- Detection and targeted ablation of GD2+ cells;
- Non-invasive and targeted anticancer therapies.