Mesothelin (MSLN) is an excellent target for antibody-based therapies of cancer because of its high expression in many malignancies but lack of expression on essential normal tissues. Unfortunately, a large fragment of MSLN is shed from cancer cells, causing the currently available anti-MSLN antibodies (and immunoconjugates thereof) which bind to the shed portion of MSLN to quickly lose their therapeutic effectiveness over time. Indeed, the shed portion of MSLN can act as a decoy for these antibodies, further limiting them from reaching and destroying tumor cells.

Mesothelin is a cell surface protein that is an excellent target for immunotherapy because of its limited expression on normal tissues and its high expression on many cancers, including mesothelioma, cholangiocarcinoma, pancreatic, ovarian, lung, stomach, bile duct, and triple-negative breast cancer.

The National Cancer Institute seeks parties to license human monoclonal antibodies and immunoconjugates and co-develop, evaluate, and/or commercialize large-scale antibody production and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) xenograft mouse models. An advantage of these monoclonal antibodies as a potential therapeutic is their specificity, which would reduce deleterious side-effects. HCC is the most common form of liver cancer, and is among the more deadly cancers in the world. There is a need for new treatments that can be successfully applied to a large population of patients.

Human mesothelin is overexpressed by various cancers such as synovial sarcoma, mesothelioma, and ovarian, lung, esophageal, and gastric cancers. This selective expression on certain cancers suggests that mesothelin is an excellent target for anticancer therapeutics. However, a large fragment (“the shed portion”) of mesothelin is constantly shed from cells, and all current anti-mesothelin antibodies bind to the shed portion.

Mesothelin is a cell surface protein that is highly expressed in aggressive cancers such as malignant mesothelioma, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, bile duct carcinoma and gastric cancer. As a result, mesothelin is an excellent candidate for tumor targeted immunotherapeutics. However, the antibodies against mesothelin that are available for clinical trials are of murine origin. These antibodies have the potential to elicit immune responses in patients, which may adversely affect the ability to provide patients with repeated doses.

The National Cancer Institute Laboratory of Molecular Biology seeks parties for collaborative research to co-develop and commercialize antibody drug/toxin conjugates as liver cancer therapy and diagnostics. 

Certain members of the cucurbitacin and Withanolide family have been identified that can sensitize some tumor cell lines to cell death (apoptosis) on subsequent exposure of the cells to pro-apoptotic receptor agonists (PARAS) of the TRAIL "death receptors". These PARAS include TRAIL itself, and agonist antibodies to two of its receptors death receptor-4 (DR4 or TRAIL-R1) and death receptor 5 (DR5, TRAIL-R2). 

Targeting the CD22 receptor of B-cells with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells has been a promising new therapy to treat B-cell malignancies in clinical trials, inducing remission in 70% of patients with relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). However, diminished CD22 expression on B-cell surface can lead to relapse and decreased remission duration, which may be prevented through increasing CAR-T affinity towards CD22. 

Biofilms are complex microbial communities, surface attached and held together by self-produced polymer matrices.  These matrices are mainly composed of polysaccharides, secreted proteins and nucleic acids.  Poly-N-acetyl glucosamine (PNAG) is a highly conserved surface polysaccharide expressed by a range of bacterial, fungal and protozoan microorganisms.

The glycoprotein CD56, also known as a neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM), plays an important role in normal physiological functions.  It is expressed in low levels in normal cells such as neurons, glia, skeletal muscle and natural killer cells.