UC professor’s startup targets breast cancer resistance

Xiaoting Zhang, a cancer researcher and professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and Cancer Center, finds that reality unacceptable. As the John and Gladys Strauss Endowed Chair in Cancer Research and director of UC’s Breast Cancer Research Program, Zhang is determined to change the narrative.

He’s made significant headway. Zhang’s research on the discovery of a key gene in breast cancer treatment resistance has been published in high-impact journals, and his RNA nanotechnology-based approach to overcoming treatment resistance has been patented. RNA Nanotherapeutics, Zhang’s startup, is enjoying similar success as it taps into the entrepreneurial resources at UC’s 1819 Innovation Hub.

To fully grasp Zhang’s research and how it’s being applied at RNA Nanotherapeutics, you’ll need to understand a few key terms:

• Estrogen: A sex hormone that affects the female reproductive system.
• Estrogen receptor: A protein that works with estrogen to fuel breast cancer growth and is present in the vast majority (70%-75%) of human breast cancer.
• Tamoxifen: A drug that prevents estrogen from fueling breast cancer growth, but one that quickly loses its efficacy as cancer cells become resistant to it.
• MED1: A protein that helps breast cancer cells ignore tamoxifen treatments, lowering cancer patients’ likelihood of survival.
• HER2: A receptor that boosts the production and activities of MED1, helping cancer cells ignore beneficial tamoxifen treatments.

Zhang and his team have developed a process to deliver multifunctional RNA nanoparticles into cancer cells to precisely target MED1. They’ve now successfully completed lead optimization, scaled up manufacturing and conducted safety and efficacy testing across multiple preclinical models. The team observed highly favorable tumor-specific targeting and better efficacy than current medicines with fewer treatments, and no toxicity or harmful immune responses even at 10 times the effective dose.

Armed with innovative breast cancer research and RNA nanotechnology, Zhang decided to move beyond the lab and launch a startup, RNA Nanotherapeutics. While he’s highly skilled in performing pioneering research, Zhang has comparatively less experience in the entrepreneurial arena.

Enter the Venture Lab and UC’s Technology Transfer office, two invaluable resources for startup founders in Greater Cincinnati and across Ohio. Here’s how the two programs – both located at UC’s 1819 Innovation Hub – helped RNA Nanotherapeutics find success:

• 1819 Venture Lab: A startup accelerator program and cohort-based group offering mentorship, business connections and nondilutive funding opportunities to help startup founders launch their discoveries. Zhang says, “The Venture Lab equipped us with both the foundational knowledge and the confidence needed to take our first steps as a company.”
• UC Technology Transfer office: A team that collaborates closely with UC faculty and researchers, entrepreneurs and industry partners to license intellectual property and file patents. According to Zhang, “UC’s Tech Transfer team played a pivotal role in protecting and advancing our intellectual property … as we position our technology for commercialization.”

With its reputation as the University of Cincinnati’s intersection for business and academia, the 1819 Innovation Hub seemed like the perfect place for Zhang to take his research to the real world.

Both teams at 1819 delivered: in Zhang’s words, “The combination of entrepreneurial training from the Venture Lab and intellectual property guidance from the Tech Transfer office has been instrumental in setting our company up for success.”

Zhang envisions significant potential for RNA Nanotherapeutics, with the goal of advancing its breast cancer therapy into clinical trials within five years. The startup is also “striving to secure the funding and investment required and establish strategic partnerships with big pharmaceutical companies and other stakeholders.”

RNA Nanotherapeutics has found positive momentum as it scales up research using what it gained from the Venture Lab and UC’s Tech Transfer office. The company recently completed validation studies through Ohio’s Technology Validation and Startup Fund (TVSF) Phase I award along with investments from the state’s Entrepreneurial Services Provider (ESP) program and the National Cancer Institute’s Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant. RNA Nanotherapeutics has now achieved another milestone by earning Ohio’s Third Frontier TVSF Phase 2 award to further accelerate its commercialization effort.

“If RNA Nanotherapeutics accomplishes its goal, it means our patients will have access to a new class of safer and more effective treatments right through the existing pharmaceutical channels and medical practices,” Zhang says. “We expect to improve both the treatment outcome and quality of life at the same time for our patients and their families.”

Featured image at top: Zhang working in his lab. Photo/Andrew Higley