Description: Genus Oncology, The MUC1-C Company, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing first-in-class agents against the MUC1-C oncoprotein for the treatment of patients with refractory cancers.
cancer (3371) oncology (601) drug discovery (174) cancer therapy (66) muc1 (2) muc1-c (1) muc1-c company (1) oncoprotein (1)
The MUC1 oncoprotein is aberrantly expressed at high levels in most human carcinomas and certain hematologic malignancies. Estimates are that, of the 1.4 million tumors diagnosed each year in the US, about 900,000 have overexpression of MUC1. MUC1 has thus become a highly attractive target for the development of new anti-cancer agents.
MUC1 consists of 2 subunits, MUC1-N and MUC1-C. MUC1-N is released from the surface of carcinoma cells and is found at elevated levels in the circulation of cancer patients. All early attempts at targeting MUC1 by other companies focused on shed MUC1-N subunit and were failed. Therefore, there are currently no FDA-approved agents that target MUC1.
Genus “The MUC1-C company” has identified the “Achilles Heel” of MUC1, the MUC1-C subunit that signals proliferation and survival to the interior of the cell. Genus is developing diverse agents that target this oncogenic transmembrane protein.