Antitumor drug co-treatment
Cancer drug development has evolved substantially, encompassing multiple sophisticated targeting approaches and novel therapeutic modalities. Central to these strategies are kinase inhibitors that precisely target specific molecular pathways essential for cancer cell survival and proliferation, while cell death pathway activators have emerged as powerful tools, particularly those inducing apoptosis and necroptosis, offering new avenues to overcome therapy resistance. DNA damage-inducing agents continue to play a crucial role by disrupting cancer cell replication processes, and antimetabolites effectively interfere with cancer cell metabolism, exploiting their unique metabolic dependencies. Natural compounds and their derivatives have gained significant attention due to their diverse mechanisms of action and potential for selective targeting of cancer cells with minimal toxicity to normal tissues. Small molecule inhibitors represent a rapidly expanding class of therapeutic agents, designed to interact with specific molecular targets critical for cancer cell survival and progression, while glycosylation inhibitors have emerged as innovative therapeutic tools, targeting the altered glycosylation patterns characteristic of cancer cells. Additionally, microtubule inhibitors serve as potent anti-cancer agents by blocking cell division processes crucial for tumor growth. These diverse approaches collectively represent the cutting edge of targeted cancer therapy, each offering distinct advantages and potentially synergistic effects when strategically combined, particularly when traditional therapies may prove insufficient or resistance develops.

Desialylation and Immune Checkpoint Therapy Design.

Dr. Carolyn Bertozzi was awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In her recent studies, she found that the sialo-glycans will inhibit the NK cell functions by negative regulatory signaling on the NK cell surface to suppress the ADCC functional activity or other positive regulatory immune attacks. However, there are no defined glycans and receptors involved in these inhibitory reactions. According to this hypothesis, our research group found that Siglec 9 plays an important receptor in interacting with sialo-glycans to suppress NK cell functions. The effect of this interaction is similar to PD1-PDL1 immune suppression. Thus, In this study, we are going to examine several approaches to block immunosuppression, such as antibody development, inhibitor, and desialylation therapy to select the best way for immune therapy.