Intellectual Property Office

Non-Confidential Disclosures

“Development of Novel ISC Drugs for Inhibition of Akt Pathway Signaling in Cancer”

PSU Inv. Disc. No 3330
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Field of the Invention:

Cancer therapy and prevention

Inventors:

Gavin P. Robertson, Arati Sharma, Dhimant Desai, Arun Sharma and Shantu Amin

Links:

Inventor Website

Background:

Although the serine/theronine kinase Akt has been implicated in many cancers, including those of the skin, breast, brain, ovary, colon, lung, prostate and connective tissue, there are currently no clinically effective inhibitors available to counteract this enzyme's abnormal anti-apoptotic activity. Even though several anti-Akt signaling pathway compounds have been identified, they all suffer from a variety of complications ranging from insolubility to toxicity, which render them unsuitable for clinical use.

Invention Description:

We have developed a novel family of Akt signaling pathway inhibitors from naturally occurring compounds that demonstrate significant in vivo chemopreventive/therapeutic activity against a wide variety of cancers. We have developed both lipid and water-soluble forms of the agents and have (in vivo) evidence of tumor inhibition at dosages significantly lower than comparable compounds. Our preliminary in vivo toxicology studies have found the toxicity of these compounds to be negligible.

Advantages:

• Optimal chemical reactivity, geometry, and tune-able lipophilicity.
  
• Optimized for maximal inhibition and prevention of tumor development.
  
• Compounds kill cancer cells via inititation of apoptosis.
  
• Compounds are effective against cancers of the skin, breast, brain, ovary, colon, lung, connective tissue (sarcomas) and prostate.
  
• Compounds exhibit minimal toxicity at efficacous dosages.
  

Patent Status:

Patent Pending

Contact:

Mr. Matthew Smith
Sr. Technology Licensing Officer
Intellectual Property Office
113 Technology Center
The Pennsylvania State Univ.
University Park, PA 16802-7000
Phone: (814) 863-1122
Fax: (814) 865-3591
E-mail:mds126@psu.edu