A few types of high-metastatic cancer cell lines including the nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line, lung cancer cell line, breast cancer cell line, and gastric cancer cell line were selected for developing in vitro cell models for anti-metastatic drug screening. Based on the cancer cell metastatic mechanisms/pathways such as EMT, we selected a metastasis-related molecular marker, called motility-promoting (Pro-M) gene whose expression level is involved with the motility of cancer cells. Then, we inserted a GFP-Luciferase cassette into the downstream of the Pro-M gene as a reporter. The Pro-M gene is related to the cytoskeleton and has a strong correlation with tumor cell movement. Therefore, after adding a compound, by detecting the expression of GFP or Luciferase, we can quickly determine whether the compound has the potential to inhibit the movement of tumor cells. Therefore, the tool cell model can be used for preliminary high-throughput rapid screening of compounds with anti-tumor metastasis activity.
Candidate compounds obtained after screening must be subjected to rigorous in vitro and in vivo verification experiments before they can enter subsequent clinical trials. As of April 2020, Exploring Health LLc. has completed the screening of 15,000 compounds, and identified 42 candidate compounds that presented potential inhibition of metastasis. One of the compounds has presented in vivo inhibition of metastasis through animal experiments. Another two compounds are under investigational animal testing.
In addition, some existing therapeutic drugs available in the current market may possess potential anti-metastatic effects that have not been identified before. For example, some types of therapeutic drugs used for cardiovascular diseases have been found to be active for anti-metastasis properties. In this case, we are able to help you to identify these types of drugs through our platform.
Awards obtained for this platform:
