Treatment of tumors

Abstract

Where it was generally thought that the smallest breakdown products of proteins had no specific biological function on their own, it now emerges that the body may utilize the normal process of proteolytic breakdown to generate important compounds such as gene-regulatory or anti-tumor compounds. Such anti-tumor compounds are useful for the treatment or prevention of tumors and can be used as part of a pharmaceutical composition. The invention provides a pharmaceutical composition for the treatment of a subject suffering from or believed to be suffering from a tumor, said pharmaceutical composition comprising: a therapeutically effective amount of anti-tumor peptide or a functional analogue or derivative thereof together with a pharmaceutically acceptable diluent.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application is a divisional of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 481,423, filed Jul. 5, 2006, U.S. Patent ______, which application claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e), to provisional patent application U.S. Ser. No. 60 / 696,657, filed on Jul. 5, 2005, the contents of the entirety of each of which are hereby incorporated by this reference.TECHNICAL FIELD[0002]The invention relates generally to biotechnology, and more specifically to methods of affecting tumor growth using peptides, such as tri-mers, 4-mers, 5-mers, 6-mers, 7-mers, and methods or treating subjects with a peptide and pharmaceutical compositions containing a peptide.BACKGROUND[0003]Cancer is the second leading cause of human death next to coronary disease. Worldwide, millions of people die from cancer every year. In the United States alone, as reported by the American Cancer Society, cancer causes the death of well over a half-million people annually...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The patent text describes the discovery of small peptides called anti-tumor peptides that can be used to treat cancer. These peptides were previously thought to be just a byproduct of protein breakdown, but new research shows that they play an important role in the body's immune response to cancer. The invention provides methods for identifying and using these peptides in pharmaceutical compositions to reduce tumor growth and inhibit tumor progression. The peptides can be administered orally or through other mucosal routes, and they can be derived from the breakdown of hCG, a protein found in pregnant women. The patent text also describes the use of short polypeptides to modulate biological systems and treat various conditions."

Problems solved by technology

Preferably, those treatments are small molecules that are easily adsorbed by the body, cheap and easy to manufacture, effective, and do not have many of the side effect associated with current cancer treatments.

Images