BioMotiv, the drug development accelerator associated with Cleveland-based The Harrington Project, Rutgers University and the State University of New Jersey, has announced the creation of a new startup called Z53 Therapeutics. The company is looking to create drugs that will tackle cancer tumors with p53 protein mutations.
This specific protein suppresses tumor formation, and the mutated gene is commonly a reason for cancer development, as a release stated, because of the protein’s inability to bind zinc.
The new potential product, developed by researchers out of Rutgers and SUNY Upstate, is providing a solution that would restore the function of zinc binding withing the mutant p53. They are calling the compounds “zinc metallochaperones.”
As the scientific founder Darren Carpizo, M.D., Ph.D., Surgical Oncologist at The Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, explained in a statement, the zinc metallochaperones represent a novel class of anti-cancer drugs.“The pharmacologic restoration of structure and function of a mutant protein by the delivery of a metal ion is unprecedented in drug development,” he said.
Photo: Screenshot via BioMotiv
