Engineered C' Dots Restore Tumor Microenvironment Homeostasis to Enable Effective Cancer Immunotherapy

Background & Unmet Need

• Immune suppressive tumor microenvironments (TME) are a major barrier to effective cancer therapies, particularly in relapsed and refractory solid tumors (e.g., ovarian, breast, lung, and endometrial cancers)
• Current immunotherapies, including CAR T cell therapies, face significant challenges due to limited immune cell activation and tumor heterogeneity
• FDA-approved cytotoxic and immunotherapy treatments fail to control tumor growth in 'cold' TMEs due to complex immunosuppressive networks, metabolic dysregulation, impaired immune cell infiltration, and pro-tumoral inflammation
• Unmet Need: Therapeutic strategies capable of simultaneously reprogramming the immunosuppressive TME, restoring anti-tumor immunity, and re-establishing homeostasis to enable durable treatment responses

Technology Overview

• The Technology: A method for treating cancer by combining systemically deliverable immunomodulatory nanoparticle conjugates
• The nanoparticle conjugates are ultrasmall (<20 nm) silica-based nanoparticles 
• PoC Data: The nanoparticles suppress TAMs and MDSCs while increasing CD8+/Treg ratios by >100x in mouse ovarian cancer models
• Enhanced tumor-cell uptake through anti-MUC16 targeting scFv-conjugated particles, resulting in ~10x greater uptake than non-targeted equivalents
• Demonstrates ferroptosis-dependent tumor cell death, synergizing with CAR T therapies to achieve a >70% reduction in tumor volumes in preclinical studies

Technology Applications

• Synergistic treatment with cell therapies to enhance immune response and overcome tumor microenvironment suppression  
• Standalone therapeutic platform to boost anti-tumor immunity and target cancer cells directly
• Dual theranostic capabilities integrating real-time tumor imaging with synergistic therapeutic delivery

Technology Advantages

• Provides intrinsic therapeutic effects and targeted drug/radiotherapeutic delivery
• Systemically deliverable for superior biodistribution, tumor penetration, and renal clearance
• Enables optimized combination therapies for heterogeneous tumor microenvironments.