Boston — TransCode Therapeutics Inc. announced the publication of a peer-reviewed study showing that its lead therapeutic candidate, TTX-MC138, produced a significant survival benefit in a preclinical model of breast cancer bone metastasis.
The study, published in Cancers, evaluated TransCode’s RNA-based therapeutic approach targeting microRNA-10b, or miR-10b, which is believed to play an important role in cancer metastasis.
According to the company, TTX-MC138 accumulated in metastatic bone lesions in a mouse model following systemic administration and significantly reduced expression of miR-10b. Treatment also increased expression of HOXD10, a downstream tumor-suppressor target.
Animals treated with the anti-miR-10b therapy showed significant survival benefits compared with controls. Repeated dosing was well tolerated, with no evidence of systemic toxicity observed during the study.
“Metastatic disease remains responsible for the overwhelming majority of cancer deaths, and effective therapies specifically designed to target metastasis remain limited,” said Zdravka Medarova, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of TransCode Therapeutics and co-author of the publication. “These findings demonstrate that miR-10b inhibition can significantly impact survival in a challenging model of metastatic cancer and further support the potential applicability of our platform across multiple metastatic tumor types.”
The study was led by Anna Moore, Ph.D., Professor in the Radiology and Physiology Departments, Director of the Precision Health Program and Associate Dean for Research Development at Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine. Moore is also a co-founder of TransCode and Chair of its Scientific Advisory Board.
Bone is one of the most common sites of metastatic spread in breast cancer and can lead to significant complications and poor long-term outcomes.
The authors concluded that targeting miR-10b through an image-guided nanotherapeutic approach could represent a potential strategy for treating breast cancer bone metastases.
TransCode said the findings may also have implications for other metastatic cancers. The company’s current clinical development efforts include TTX-MC138 in molecular residual disease-positive colorectal cancer.
TTX-MC138 is designed to inhibit miR-10b using TransCode’s proprietary oligonucleotide nanotechnology platform. The company previously reported that its Phase 1a first-in-human trial met its primary safety endpoint and established a recommended Phase 2 dose.
