KORTUC Inc. announced today that it has started a research collaboration with Professor Yosuke Togashi of Okayama University to elucidate the mechanism of immune response activation against cancer (anti-tumor immune response) by KORTUC, a novel radiosensitizer developed by KORTUC Inc.
In Europe and the United States, more than half of cancer patients receive radiotherapy during their treatments. In most solid tumors, like breast cancer and lung cancer, it is known that the center of the lesion and its surrounding areas become hypoxic when the tumor reaches a certain size, which makes radiotherapy less effective. KORTUC is expected to increase anti-tumor radiotherapeutic effect by supplying oxygen to cancer tissues as well as inactivating antioxidant enzymes also cause tumor radioresistance.
Radiotherapy is also known to activate the anti-tumor immune response. Currently many clinical trials are ongoing to evaluate a synergistic effect of radiotherapy to immune checkpoint inhibitors. However, it is believed that hypoxia does not only cause radioresistance and may also affect the anti-tumor immune response negatively.
Professor Yosuke Togashi of the Department of Tumor Microenvironment, Graduate School of Medicine Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, is an expert in tumor immunology. Dr. Togashi and KORTUC Inc. will collaborate to evaluate the potential of KORTUC as a new anti-tumor immune response modulator.