Low-dose Carbon Monoxide in Treating Metastatic Cancer

Background & Unmet Need

• Cancer metastasis is responsible for 90% of cancer-related deaths
• Patients with localized cancer often have undetectable tumor cells in distant sites, which could later form metastatic tumors
• Therapies to prevent or treat metastatic tumors are limited, and conventional anti-proliferative chemotherapies often do not decrease metastasis
• Unmet Need: Methods to treat, prevent, alleviate cancer metastasis

Technology Overview

• The Technology: A method to treat or prevent metastatic cancer via administration of low-dose carbon monoxide separately or in combination with additional therapeutic agents
• By perturbing cancer cell metabolism, low-dose carbon monoxide (CO) treatment decreases metastatic potential in multiple cancer types including breast, colon, and prostate
• CO decreases cancer cell migration in vitro without affecting activity of non-malignant cells
• CO can be administered by gas inhalation, nanoparticle delivery, or other carbon-monoxide releasing molecules (CORMs)
• PoC Data: Pre-clinical testing via inhalation of low-dose CO reduced metastatic tumor burden completely in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) 8988T-bearing mice (p < 0.05) and by 50% in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) MBA-MB-231-bearing mice (p < 0.0001)

Technology Applications

• Neoadjuvant prophylactic treatment to prevent metastasis following a primary cancer diagnosis
• Adjuvant treatment to prevent metastasis or treat metastatic lesions
• Combination adjuvant treatment with additional therapeutic agents
• Treatment of idiopathic lung fibrosis

Technology Advantages

• Treatment is not cytotoxic and does not reduce activity of non-cancerous cells in vitro
• CO can be co-administered with current standard or care for a given cancer
• Effective against multiple cancers in reducing metastasis, metastatic burden, and tumor growth