Tel Aviv University professor to talk to Australians on planned new cancer drug
Internationally venerated Professor Dan Peer of Tel Aviv University has led ground-breaking research in the targeted delivery of therapeutic RNAs, is pioneering the way for a nanodrug that attacks cancer twice with no harm caused to healthy cells
Dan Peer
Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes.
Prof. Peer will address an Australian audience on Zoom on Tuesday 21st June 2022 at 7.00pm AEST.
Previously, Prof. Peer and his team developed drug delivery systems based on fatty nanoparticles – the most advanced system of its kind; this system has already received clinical approval for the delivery of RNA-based drugs to cells. Now, they are trying to make the delivery system even more selective.
According to Prof. Peer, a new breakthrough has possible implications for a wide range of diseases and medical conditions.
As part of the study, Prof. Peer and his team were able to demonstrate a groundbreaking development in animal models of inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease and colitis, and improve all inflammatory symptoms, without performing any manipulation on about 85% of the immune system cells.
Behind the innovative development stands a simple concept, targeting to a specific receptor conformation.
Prof. Peer says, “Our development actually changes the world of therapeutic antibodies. Today we flood the body with antibodies that, although selective, damage all the cells that express a specific receptor, regardless of their current form. We have now taken out of the equation healthy cells that can help us, that is, uninflamed cells, and via a simple injection into the bloodstream can silence, express or edit a particular gene exclusively in the cells that are inflamed at that given moment.”
Prof. Peer adds, “We were able to organise the delivery system in such a way that we target to only 14.9% of the cells that were involved in the inflammatory condition of the disease, without adversely affecting the other, non-involved, cells, which are actually completely healthy cells.
In other words, we were able to deliver the drug ‘door-to-door,’ directly to the diseased cells.”
“Our development has implications for many types of blood cancers and various types of solid cancers, different inflammatory diseases, and viral diseases such as the coronavirus. We now know how to wrap RNA in fat-based particles so that it binds to specific receptors on target cells,” he says.
In another study published in the scientific journal Advanced Materials, Dr Peer’s team at Tel Aviv University proved that a drug delivery system based on lipid nanoparticles can utilize RNA to overcome resistance to both chemotherapy and immunotherapy in cancer treatments. This study opens a new path to a personalised and precisely targeted battle against cancer.
To attend the webinar, please register at https://bit.ly/aftauPM4
