Peptides and methods for the treatment of gliomas and other cancers

Abstract

The invention is based on the discovery that STM/Hop promotes proliferation of human glioblastoma-derived cells but not of normal astrocytes and that the proliferation requires the binding of STM/Hop to PrPc. The invention is directed to methods for treating cancer which rely on interfering with the Hop-PrPc interaction and to peptides, and antibodies raised against the peptides, which directly provide that interference. The invention is further based on the discovery that STI1230-245 peptide and its human homologue Hop23o-245 provide the desired interference with the STI1/Hop-PrPc interaction and inhibit the STI 1/Hop-induced proliferation of glioma and glioblastoma cells. The invention is thus further directed to methods of treating cancer that employ these peptides and functional derivatives thereof, and antibodies directed to the peptides and derivatives. The invention is further directed to means of treating cancer which involve reducing the effective amount of Hop or reducing the expression of Hop. The invention is further directed to means of alleviating or eliminating the side effects of drug therapy and radiotherapy used in treating patients with brain cancers.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.