Drug Repurposing to Treat Merkel Cell Carcinoma (MCC)

Merkel Cell Carcinoma (MCC) is a rare and aggressive neuroendocrine tumor of the skin.   It is most commonly found on areas of the skin with higher ultraviolet (UV) exposure, and in Caucasian patients of advanced age.  Interestingly, approximately 80% of MCC tumors are caused by integration of the Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) into the host genome (VP-MCC).  The remaining 20% ar e virus negative (VN-MCC) and caused by somatic mutations induced by UV exposure.  Current therapeutic strategies include surgical resection and radiotherapy for localized, and chemotherapy for metastatic, disease. However, recurrence is common and is associated with high mortality. In May 2017, avelumab, a checkpoint inhibitor targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway became the first FDA-approved treatment for MCC. Though an important step, a majority of patients treated with avelumab treatment do not achieve durable responses. Further, some patients are not eligible for treatment if they have received solid organ transplants or are severely immunocompromised.   Therefore, development of additional therapeutic strategies is still needed.The technology developed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) describes novel uses for known compounds to treat MCC.   NCI collaborated with the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) to identify existing treatments for repurposing. Together, they screened the NCATS Chemical Genomics Center (NCGC) Pharmaceutical Collection (NPC, ~2400 com...
Source: NIH OTT Licensing Opportunities - Category: Research Authors: Source Type: research