Treatment of Primary Brain Tumors with Antagonists of Bradykinin-2 Receptors

UAB Research Foundation
posted on 02/22/2012

More than 600,000 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with primary brain tumors, and approximately 65,000 new cases are identified each year. Brain tumors, while treatable, typically mimic the symptoms of other diseases so that diagnosis is difficult and very often, too late. Researchers at The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have shown that blocking or genetically altering the receptors for bradykinin inhibits tumor cell growth and spread suggesting antagonists of these receptors can be beneficial for treatment of malignant brain cancers.

Suggested Uses

Cancer Therapy

Advantages

Antagonists of bradykinin-2 receptors inhibit migration and invasion of tumor cells, thus limiting their ability to find blood vessels that provide nutrients required for survival and propagation of satellite tumors.
Expression of bradykinin-2 receptors correlates with the grade of tumor making it an attractive therapeutic target.
Treatment can improve prognosis of glial tumors which are the most common and least curable brain cancer.
This approach may also be effective against other cancers.
This unique approach can be administered in combination with conventional treatments.

Innovation Details

Detailed Description

Primary brain tumors, including gliomas, grow and spread primarily by seeking out blood vessels to obtain the necessary nutrients and oxygen essential for their survival. Researchers at UAB have shown that they follow a chemical trail established by bradykinin, a signaling peptide that is released from blood vessels, via the bradykinin-2 receptor. When these receptors were pharmacologically inhibited or genetically inactivated, tumor cells were unable to locate blood vessels and migrate. These data suggest that antagonists or inhibitors of the bradykinin-2 receptor can be used to slow the growth and spread of primary brain neoplasms and can be used in combination with other therapeutics in the treatment of brain cancer.

File Number: U2011-0048

Web site: http://www.uab.edu/uabrf/search-technologies

Disease: Cancer

Other Information:

MANAGING LICENSING ASSOCIATE:

DEBORAH J. BIDANSET, PH.D., MBA

debbie@uab.edu (205) 975-6851

IP PROTECTION

International Patent Application Serial No. PCT/US2012/031573, filed March 30, 2012.

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Harald Sontheimer, Ph.D., Department of Neurobiology, UAB.

IP Protection