Mesothelin (MSLN) is an antigen highly expressed in several human cancers including mesotheliomas, ovarian cancers and pancreatic cancers. As such, human MSLN (hMSLN) is a target for many anti-cancer drugs. Most therapeutics targeting hMSLN do not recognize the mouse isoform of MSLN (mMSLN) and therefore cannot be tested in mouse cancer models. 

Baculoviruses have been used for decades to produce proteins in insect cell hosts. Current systems for generating recombinant baculovirus have several shortcomings which prevent their easy use in high-throughput applications. 

The National Cancer Institute seeks parties to license fully human antibodies for CH2-based research materials.

Researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have developed an improved insect cell line, Tni-FNL, derived from the cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni.  The Tni-FNL cell line is capable of high level expression of heterologous proteins using baculovirus-based expression systems.  When compared to commercially available cell lines used for the same purpose, the Tni-FNL cell line often outperforms those for protein expression.  These cells have a high growth rate and are capable of growth at a lower temperature.

Aberrant function of the WNT-b-catenin pathway is a common underlying cause of tumorigenesis.  Despite the attractiveness of the WNT-b-catenin pathway as a therapeutic target, WNT dependent cell signaling is also crucial for normal tissue development, and is ubiquitous in all organs.  As a result, WNT-b-catenin pathway inhibitors cause many side effects and fail to meet FDA safety standards.  A more targeted approach is needed to develop safe and effective WNT signaling inhibitors.

KRAS and other Ras-family enzymes are an important component of over 30% of human cancers, however, no effective therapeutics targeting Ras or Ras-driven cancers are currently available.  The production of Ras proteins in vitro is required for the identification and characterization of Ras targeting drugs.  An important step in producing the Ras protein involves prenylation of the C-terminus of the protein via farnesyltransferase, a modification that does not occur in prokaryotic organisms.  Previous attempts to generate properly processed Ras in eukaryotic cells has

The baculovirus-based protein expression system has gained increased prominence as a method for expressing recombinant proteins that are used in a wide range of biomedical applications. An important step in the use of this system is the ability to determine the virus infectious titer, i.e., the number of active baculovirus particles produced during an infection of the insect host cell.

The National Cancer Institute’s Protein Expression Laboratory seeks parties to co-develop dual luminescent/fluorescent cancer biomarkers.

In research settings, visualization of  tumors or tumor cells is often done using either bioluminescence or fluorescence.  However, both of these methods have shortcomings: bioluminescence is not sensitive enough to sort individual tumor cells, and fluorescence cannot be used effectively to view internal tumors and is best used with surface tumors.

The NCI Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Genetics seeks parties interested in collaborative research to further develop this mouse model of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) to study cancer biology and for preclinical testing.  As a Research Tool, patent protection is not being pursued for this technology; more information to access this strain can be found here: https://www.jax.org/strain/030386.