Attacking cancer from both ends
Directly killing tumour cells combined with provoking an immune attack.
We are a newly formed research-based company that strives to discover novel cancer therapies. Our goal is it to develop small-molecule based cancer therapies that curb lactate production thereby limiting tumor-autonomous growth and stimulating the immune system to re-attack the tumor.
Lactate is at the crossroads between tumour metabolism and the immune hostile late-stage cancer microenvironment. Lactate is the end product of the so-called Warburg metabolism that converts glucose into lactate while diverting major amounts of carbon into contruction material for the ever dividing cancer cells. Inhibiting lactate curbs the rate of Warburg metabolism and thus stops cancer growth.
But lactate and the acidic pH in the tumour environment that comes with it are also major immuno-suppressants. The lactic acid immune shield allows only for those immune cells that use Warburg metabolism themselves and that are passive against the tumor. These so-called MDSCs became allies of the cancer and signal to active immune cells to stay out of the tumor.
When curbing lactate production, these MDSCs are inhibited in their cancer collaborative work and tumor aggressive T-cells and NK cells are allowed to migrate into the tumor to attack and destroy it, finally.
This is what we achieve by our small-molecule Anti Warburg Warheads (AWWs).