SBIR Phase I: Generation of directly active monoclonal antibodies to CD19 for the treatment of B-cell malignancies

这一小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的广泛影响/商业潜力涉及用于治疗B细胞癌症(白血病和淋巴瘤)的新的单抗疗法。目前治疗这些癌症的药物会产生严重的副作用，而且绝大多数患者会复发。这里提出的试剂可能是第一个在这些疾病中直接产生有效治疗效果的单抗，并且被设计成比目前的治疗方法更具肿瘤特异性。因此，这些试剂提供了治愈的可能性，同时将副作用的可能性降至最低。耐受性良好和有效的治疗方法是这些恶性肿瘤已知的未得到满足的需求。此外，这些直接活性的单抗可以提供比最近获得批准的工程抗体更实惠的选择。对这些单抗的研究将有助于阐明受体的结构元件与其功能之间的关系。这些单抗的成功将验证一个新的药物靶点发现平台，该平台将应用于开发抗体来治疗其他癌症和自身免疫性疾病。这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目应用了一个药物发现平台，专注于开发mAbto膜受体，负责驱动致癌信号和恶性表型。这些新的抗体可能通过阻断细胞生长/存活途径而产生直接的生物效应。CD19是调控多种激活途径参与细胞生存和增殖的关键分子之一，它广泛表达于B细胞上，其失调导致B细胞恶性肿瘤的发生。虽然CD19已被用作B细胞特异性药物靶点，但目前还没有直接影响该受体信号功能的治疗方法。这项工作有可能产生针对CD19上两个选定表位的单抗。具体和直接活跃的单抗将被进一步开发用于临床。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact /commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project relates to novel monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapies for the treatment of B-cell cancers (leukemias and lymphomas). Current drugs for these cancers cause severe side effects, and patients overwhelmingly relapse. The reagents proposed here could be the first mAbs to directly induce potent therapeutic effect in these diseases and are designed to be more tumor-specific than current therapies. Thus, the reagents offer the potential of a cure while minimizing the likelihood of side effects. Well-tolerated and effective therapeutics are a known unmet need for these malignancies. Additionally, these directly active mAbs could provide more affordable options than the engineered antibodies that have recently been approved. Research on these mAbs will elucidate the relationship between structural elements of receptors and their function. The success of these mAbs will validate a novel drug-target discovery platform, which will be applied in developing antibodies to treat other cancers and autoimmune diseases. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project applies a drug discovery platform, focused on developing mAbs to membrane receptors responsible for driving oncogenic signaling and malignant phenotypes. These novel antibodies may induce direct biologic effects by interrupting cell-growth/survival pathways. One of the key players in controlling multiple activation pathways involved in cell survival and proliferation is CD19, which is ubiquitously expressed on B-cells and its dysregulation leads to B-cell malignancies. Though CD19 has been used as a B-cell-specific drug target, no therapies exist that directly impact the signaling function of this receptor. This work has the potential to generate mAbs to two selected epitopes on CD19. mAbs that are specific and directly active will be further developed for clinical use.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.