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Current methods to deliver proteins into cells (e.g., using retrovirus, DNA transfection, protein transduction, microinjection, complexing the protein with lipids, etc.) have many shortcomings, such as lack of target specificity toxicity, or unwanted random integration into the host chromosome.  Protein transduction is an emerging technology for delivering proteins into cells by exploiting the ability of certain proteins to penetrate the cell membrane.  However, the majority of the proteins delivered by this means are usually trapped and subsequently degraded in the endosomes-lyso

The National Cancer Institute's Molecular Targets Development Program is seeking parties interested in collaborative research to further develop, evaluate, or commercialize cancer inhibitors isolated from the African plant Phyllanthus englerii. The technology is also available for exclusive or non-exclusive licensing.

The National Cancer Institute's Laboratory of Pathology is seeking statements of capability or interest from parties interested in collaborative research to further develop, evaluate, or commercialize therapeutics targeting vasodialation.

Nitric oxide (NO) plays an important role as a major intrinsic vasodilator, and increases blood flow to tissues and organs. Disruption of this process leads to peripheral vascular disease, ischemic heart disease, stroke, vascular insufficiency associated with diabetes, and many more diseases that are significant.

Research and clinical applications of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are currently limited by reprogramming methods that may modify the host genome, and therefore be potentially unsafe and problematic for use in basic research, cell-based therapies, and drug-discovery applications. 

Pulmonary surfactant plays a critical role in preventing alveolar collapse by decreasing surface tension at the alveolar air-liquid interface. Surfactant deficiency contributes to the pathogenesis of acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), common disorders that can afflict patients of all ages and carry a mortality rate greater than 25%. Excess surfactant leads to pulmonary alveolar proteinosis.

It is well known that overactive Ras signaling is linked to many forms of cancer, and despite intensive efforts worldwide to develop effective inhibitors of Ras, to date there is no anti-Ras inhibitor in clinical use.

High expression of CD47, a cell surface receptor on several types of cancer cells, has been identified as a ‘don’t eat me signal’ that inhibits their killing by macrophages or NK cells. Conversely, the CD47 antibody B6H12 that blocks SIRPα binding enhances macrophage-dependent clearance of tumors in several mouse models, although others have shown that such clearance can be independent of SIRPα signaling.

Many chemotherapeutic agents cause significant cytotoxicity to non-cancer ("normal") cells, resulting in undesirable side-effects and often limiting the dose and/or duration of chemotherapy that can be administered to a patient.

Chemotherapy resistance in a wide array of cancers is often associated with enhanced glucose uptake and dysregulation of the insulin signaling pathway.  Therapeutics capable of inhibiting insulin signaling would be valuable as a stand-alone treatment and for sensitizing resistant tumors to standard chemotherapy regiments.  Researchers at NCI’s Genitourinary Malignancies Branch have synthesized and developed a series of Englerin-A ana

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.