A cancer therapy that inhibits the Notch signaling pathway

EPFL spin-off Cellestia Biotech has just been given the regulatory go-ahead to start clinical testing a molecule it has developed to treat cancers involving mutations of the Notch gene. The molecule is a ray of hope for the 250,000 patients diagnosed every year with this mutation, which sharply reduces their chances of recovery. The molecule developed by Cellestia Biotech, an EPFL spin-off, is a targeted therapy designed to treat cancers resulting from a mutation of the Notch gene. Clinical trials are scheduled to start soon in Spain. This oral treatment is the first to work by stopping the problem at its roots, i.e., in the cell's nucleus. It inhibits the protein complex - which allow cancerous cells to multiply - so that they cannot generate signals. One of the alternatives to chemotherapy currently being investigated by experts is the array of signals generated by proteins in a cell's nucleus.