Cancer cells have proteins with truncated O-glycosylation, a cancer specific epitope
We started with the question:
What do all cancers have in common? GO from there.
Making the best cancer therapeutics
for solid tumors
What would the ideal cancer therapeutic look like?
• It would be specific – killing tumors but sparing healthy tissues.
• It would be potent – killing all cancer cells in a tumor.
• It would be broad-spectrum – treating a variety of cancers.
By exploiting the biology of cancer glycoproteins, GO is developing a new class of cancer therapeutics that are exquisitely cancer-specific, potent and broad-spectrum.
Targeting Cancer-specific O-glycoproteins
Glycoproteins are proteins decorated with glycans (long chains of sugars). There are two main types of glycoproteins: N-glycoproteins and O-glycoproteins, which differ in the type of glycans and the manner of glycan-to-protein attachment.
All cells have O-glycoproteins on their surface, but cancer O-glycoproteins are unique in that they have aberrantly truncated O-glycans.
O-glycans create a novel epitope space for cancer targeting
O-glycosylation is a co-driver in cancer development:
- Loss of cell-cell and cell matrix adhesion
- Increased proliferation and invasion
O-glycoproteins with truncated O-glycans are are absent from normal tissues, but are present in 60-80% of human epithelial cancers, by far, the largest cancer family. The high prevalence and tumor specificity make truncated O-glycans exceptional targets as the foundation of higher performance therapeutics.
GO’s novel therapeutics promise a more improved therapeutic window than the current state of targeting cancer.
Kudelka, M, et al., Simple Sugars to Complex Disease – Mucin-Type O-Glycans in CancerAdv Cancer Res. 2015; 126: 53–135.
O-glycans are highly expressed on a broad range of cancer indications.
GO’s growing portfolio of cancer therapeutics address significant unmet patient needs.
Developing High-affinity Antibodies against
Cancer O-glycoproteins
GO has developed a platform-based approach for the creation of high-affinity monoclonal antibodies that target cancer-specific O-glycoproteins.
Current generation of antibody-based cancer therapies
Targeting peptide epitopes:
- High affinity antibodies, but
- Poor cancer selectivity/specificity
Current generation of antibody-based cancer therapies
Targeting glcyopeptide epitopes:
- High affinity, and
- Great cancer selectivity/specificity
Our approach hinges on successfully pinpointing where O-glycan epitopes are on a particular cancer-associated glycoprotein, and then employing a variety of antibody-discovery technologies to generate high affinity antibodies that are selective for these tumor-specific glyco-epitopes.
GO has a growing portfolio of cancer-specific antibodies and early stage CAR-T, T-cell bispecific and ADC therapies.
Potent Cancer-killing Formulations
To achieve potent oncolytic activity, we are formulating our high-affinity cancer-specific antibodies into powerful cancer-killing modalities:
Chimericantigen receptors (CARs)
T cell bispecifics (TCBs)
Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs)
