Vimentin-Binding Peptide Compounds for Selective CTC Targeting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cancer therapies, including chemotherapy and targeted biologics, face challenges due to systemic toxicities caused by non-specific distribution of drugs, affecting both cancer cells and normal cells, leading to inadequate treatment outcomes and significant side effects.
Innovation Solution
Development of compounds with a vimentin-binding peptide domain linked to a drug-binding, detectable, or capture reagent domain, allowing for selective targeting and delivery of chemotherapeutic agents to cancer cells while sparing normal tissues, and enabling detection and isolation of circulating tumor cells.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional chemotherapy agents are administered systemically, then cancer cells can be treated, but normal cells are also damaged causing systemic toxicity
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the therapeutic approach by using different targeting moieties (collagen-binding domain, vimentin-binding peptide) that can be combined with various therapeutic agents. This segmentation allows selective delivery to cancer cells through their unique pericellular matrix composition, thereby treating cancer cells while sparing normal cells from toxic effects
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs intermediary targeting moieties that specifically bind to components of the cancer cell pericellular matrix (collagen, vimentin). These intermediaries act as mediators between the therapeutic agent and the cancer cell, enabling selective targeting and reducing non-specific systemic toxicity to normal cells
2Manufacturing precision
If targeted biologics are used to improve specificity, then treatment precision increases, but device complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates universal targeting moieties (collagen-binding domain, vimentin-binding peptide) that can be combined with multiple different therapeutic agents. These multi-functional building blocks simplify the overall development process by providing a standardized platform for creating various targeted therapies without requiring de novo design for each application
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses composite structures combining targeting domains (collagen-binding or vimentin-binding) with therapeutic agent-binding domains. These composite compounds achieve high targeting precision while managing complexity through modular design, where each component has a specific function that can be independently optimized
3Measurement precision
If detectable moieties are linked to targeting peptides, then cancer detection capability improves, but compound complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the targeting function (collagen-binding or vimentin-binding peptide) with the detection function (detectable moiety) into a single compound. This combination allows the same compound to both target cancer cells specifically and provide detectable signals for imaging or diagnosis, thereby improving detection precision while avoiding the need for separate targeting and detection systems
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach reduces systemic toxicity, enhances treatment efficacy by targeting cancer cells specifically, improves diagnosis and prognosis through detectable moieties, and facilitates the removal of circulating tumor cells, thereby addressing the limitations of existing cancer therapies.
Implementation Method 1
a peptide that binds to vimentin proteins
Implementation Method 2
a detectable moiety selected from the group consisting of a radioactive isotope, a magnetic compound, an x-ray absorber, a fluorescent molecule
Data Source
AI summary
Provided herein are new compositions and methods to target and deliver agents to pathological areas by utilizing multifunctional compounds. These compounds include three or more domains: (i) a vimentin-binding peptide, (ii) a linker, and (iii) a drug binding, a capturing reagent, or a detectable moiety. These compounds can be used to detect, isolate, and/or treat cancerous cells such as circulating tumor cells.