Liquid Immunotherapeutic Fiducial Eluter (LIFE) Gel for Cervical Cancer

Current treatment options for advanced cervical cancer are limited, with a 5-year overall survival rate of 17%. Innovative therapeutic approaches for metastatic disease that can increase access are greatly needed. To meet this need, in this project Nanocan Therapeutics Corporation in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University, will develop innovative technology that can extend the use of local radiotherapy (RT) from palliation to distant control of metastatic cervical cancer with substantially reduced treatment time and cost, facilitating access to care. The new technology, which Nanocan has licensed from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Medical School is a Liquid Immunotherapeutic Fiducial Eluter (LIFE) gel that can be easily administered locally and works in conjunction with hypo-fractionated radiotherapy for treatment of patients with advanced cervical cancer. Preliminary studies illustrate that the use of the biocompatible/biodegradable LIFE gel technology can cause regression of both treated (local) and distant untreated (metastatic) tumors and enable development of immunologic memory controlling disease over the long term. This Phase II STTR project will fund the first clinical trial to demonstrate safety of the LIFE gel product and treatment protocol. Innovative advantages of the LIFE gel include potential to overcome immunosuppression due to sustained delivery, minimal systemic/overlapping toxicities, simple short treatment regimen, and providing imaging contrast for precision RT. The highest clinical impact of the LIFE gel technology approach is anticipated in significantly improved survival of advanced cervical cancer patients. Preliminary studies also show that this can provide a substantially less expensive alternative to systemic treatment and replace the intensive regimens over months to a brief intervention, which will create significant opportunities for better cancer care. Project Number: 2R42CA268623-02 | Fiscal Year: 2025 | NIH Institute/Center: National Cancer Institute (NCI) | Principal Investigator: Sandeep Kakade (+2 co-PIs) | Institution: NANOCAN THERAPEUTICS CORPORATION, PRINCETON, NJ | Award Amount: $998,781 | Activity Code: R42 | Study Section: Special Emphasis Panel[ZRG1 CTH-E (11)] View on NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11070058