Out-licensing

Elucidation of a Novel Biomarker to Predict Resistance to Doxorubicin Cancer Therapy

Introduction/Background

Major drawbacks of current cancer therapies are the individual differences in the response and the cytotoxic side-effects that are associated with them.

Aims/Hypothesis

It would be advantageous to have a method for the identification of the prognosis of cancer therapy response in patients.

Research

This research identified a manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) polymorphism as a novel biomarker for the prognosis of doxorubicin therapeutic response in breast cancer patients. This technology can be developed into an assay to screen patients for their response to doxorubicin treatment. Further, as the MnSOD polymorphism is common in the population (15% to 20% of patients have the Ala/Ala genotype), it is a common risk factor that predicts poor response to doxorubicin therapy in breast cancer, and likely in other types of cancer.

Conclusion

MnSOD has been identified as a novel genetic marker to predict breast cancer patient survival with doxorubicin treatment.

Relevance/Opportunity

The Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, is seeking statements of capability or interest from parties interested in collaborative research to further develop, evaluate, or commercialize MnSOD genotyping assays to assess a patient's response to doxorubicin combination therapy. Please enquire quoting reference no. 453BW.

Preclinical