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Volume 7, Issue 1 (Suppl) J Biotechnol Biomater
ISSN: 2155-952X JBTBM, an open access journal
Enzymology & Mol. Biology 2017
Biotechnology Congress 2017
March 20-21, 2017
Page 34
Notes:
conferenceseries.com
March 20-21, 2017 Rome, Italy
&
15th World Congress on
2nd International Conference on
Biotechnology And Biotech Industries Meet
Enzymology and Molecular Biology
AvidinOX-targeted delivery: A new way to improve efficacy of well-known monoclonal antibodies for
cancer therapy
We recently discovered that the oxidized version of hen egg white avidin, named AvidinOX, can chemically link to tissue
proteins when injected or nebulized, thus becoming an artificial receptor for biotinylated therapeutics. This product
is currently under investigation in phase I clinical trials for targeting intravenously administered 177Lutetium-biotinDOTA
to inoperable tumor lesions and liver metastases, pre-injected with AvidinOX (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02053324). Several
published and some non-published data from our group indicate that AvidinOX-targeted delivery of the biotinylated version
of some marketed monoclonal antibodies turns non-effective doses of such antibodies effective for cancer treatment. Among
the antibodies tested, AvidinOX-targeted delivery of biotinylated anti-EGFR cetuximab and panitumumab, and anti-ErbB2/
neu trastuzumab and pertuzumab were particularly effective. Molecular mechanisms explaining the improved anti-tumor
activity of AvidinOX-anchored biotinylated antibodies have been also described by our group. Overall, our data provide a
scientific rational for further pre-clinical and clinical investigation of therapeutic approaches based on the local delivery of
AvidinOX (i.e., intra-tumor, aerosol or intra-peritoneal delivery) followed by local or systemic delivery of low dose biotinylated
antibodies. The expectation of our AvidinOX-targeted delivery platform is to reduce the cost of cancer treatments and improve
tolerability by reaching anti-tumor efficacy with significantly less amount of expensive antibodies.
Biography
Rita De Santis has a degree in Biological Sciences and PhD in Experimental Medicine from Rome University and National Institutes of Health, USA, respectively. Since
1999, she directs the group of Biotech Products at Sigma Tau SpA, leading innovative products from bench to clinical trials. She is the author of 70 papers and 20 patents.
Her work focuses on the development of the AvidinOX-based therapeutic platform for cancer therapy and looking for collaborations to fully exploit the potential of AvidinOX
for targeted delivery of biotinylated drugs in additional therapeutic fields.
Rita De Santis
Sigma Tau SpA, Italy
Rita De Santis, J Biotechnol Biomater 2017, 7:1(Suppl)