On April 28, 2025 SK Life Science Labs, a subsidiary of SK Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., a global biotech focused on the research, development, and commercialization of treatments for disorders of the central nervous system (CNS) and cancer, presented late-breaking research at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting 2025 in Chicago (Press release, SK Life Science, APR 28, 2025, View Source [SID1234652265]). The research identified novel orally bioavailable p300-selective degraders that have therapeutic potential for difficult-to-treat prostate cancer and multiple cancers where the protein CBP is mutated or missing.
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"What is extremely promising about our research is that we have shown that selective p300 degraders are highly effective in rapidly shutting down tumor growth in hard-to-treat cancers while also reducing toxicity due to their precise targeting," said Ryan Kruger, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at SK Life Science Labs. "This study offers great hope for the development of safer drug therapies that could effectively treat some of the most challenging types of cancers for patients who currently have few good treatment options."
The p300 protein is implicated in oncogenic processes that drive a variety of solid cancers. Targeted p300 degraders demonstrate superb selectivity and potency, inhibiting tumor cell growth across several indications including castrate-resistant prostate cancer and cancers where the related protein, CBP, is missing or mutated. Once daily oral administration of these potent p300-selective degraders in tumor-bearing mice results in rapid degradation of p300 and a significant reduction in tumor growth.
"There are two primary advantages of using a heterobifunctional degrader to target p300. First, using the power of ternary complex formation, we are for the first time able to generate molecules that can target p300 over CBP with exquisite selectivity. Second, p300 degraders eliminate this critical protein required for cancer cells instead of just suppressing its activity as other molecules in development do," continued Dr. Kruger. "This discovery underscores the potential for safer and more effective oncology therapies for some of the most difficult-to-treat cancers."