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Brief description
Inducible expression of T-bet in epithelial cells promotes apoptosis and can be used as an anti-cancer therapy.
Problem
Cancer remains a leading cause of mortality worldwide, with epithelial cell cancers such as colon cancer presenting significant treatment challenges. Traditional approaches like chemotherapy and radiation therapy,...
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Background
Advancements in gene editing have revolutionized biomedical research and therapeutic development, yet current methods lack precise, non-invasive control over gene expression in living organisms. Conventional gene modulation approaches, including chemical inducers and viral vectors, often result in systemic effects, off-target activity, and...
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Background
A key barrier to CAR-T cell therapies for solid tumors is the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, where cytokines like TGF-β inhibit T cell proliferation, cytotoxicity, and persistence. TGF-β suppresses immune responses by activating Smad-dependent signaling pathways, leading to T cell anergy and exhaustion. Traditional approaches...
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Background
Solid tumors remain largely resistant to T-cell–based immunotherapies due to poor immune cell infiltration within the tumor microenvironment. The absence of key chemokines limits T-cell trafficking, resulting in “cold” tumors that fail to respond to checkpoint inhibitors and adoptive cell therapies.
Innovation
USC...
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Background
Cancer stem-like cells (CSLCs) are a primary driver of tumor relapse, metastasis, and resistance to immunotherapy, particularly in solid tumors. Mechanical softness within the tumor microenvironment promotes immune evasion, yet current CAR-T strategies lack effective approaches to identify and eliminate these mechanically resistant cell...
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Market Opportunity
Structure-based virtual ligand screening is emerging as a key paradigm for early drug discovery owing to the availability of high-resolution target structures and ultra-large libraries of virtual compounds. However, to keep pace with the explosive growth of virtual chemical libraries, new approaches to compound screening are needed.
USC...
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Improves the efficacy of current immunotherapies by individually targeting T cell receptors proteins
Creates a therapy that boasts a higher chance of survival compared to the standard of care for acute myeloid leukemia
Abstract
USC researchers created genetically engineered exosomes (SMART-Exos) that display two distinct monoclonal antibodies targeting...
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Cancer treatment
Abstract
USC researchers have developed a technique for optimizing CAR-T and CAR-NK cell specificity that employs human leukocyte antigen DR (HLA-DR) downregulation in malignant cells. Because malignant cancer cells generally express HLA-DR at lower levels than healthy cells, CAR-NK cells inhibited against HLA-DR will preferentially...
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Antibacterial therapeutic
Abstract
USC researchers engineered novel cyclotide with effective broad-spectrum antibacterial activity against several ESKAPE bacterial strains and clinical isolates. Cyclotides are micro-proteins (˜30 residues long) that have shown remarkable stability, are easily synthesized and have shown good oral bioavailability....
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Deliver drugs for cancer and other diseases
Abstract
Using a newly discovered NAD+ analogue with excellent activity for poly-ADP-ribosylation, functionalized poly-ADP-ribose polymers were robustly synthesized. The functionalized poly-ADP-ribose polymers provide a novel type of drug carrier that allows for facile conjugation of monoclonal antibodies...
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