NaNotics LLC (Mill Valley, California) has announced that it will work with the Mayo Clinic to develop a cancer treatment known as NaNots that works by depleting targeted pathogenic molecules from the blood. The NaNot would target a soluble form of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1), a tumor-generated immune inhibitor, while ignoring membrane forms of PD-L1.
“Our team has been studying sPD-L1 for several years,” said Dr. Sean Park, an oncologist at Mayo Clinic, in a statement. “We believe it’s a key driver of immune evasion for many tumor types.”
Park said the ability to home in on soluble PD-L1 is “potentially significant.”
“We’re excited to collaborate with NaNotics and test NaNots against sPD-L1 in humans for the first time,” he added.
NaNot image courtesy of NaNotics
NaNotics hopes to file an investigational new drug (IND) application with the FDA to begin human clinical trials within…