1st of May 2024

In this excellent review Sørensen and Horsman shed light on the critical issue of tumor hypoxia.* Hypoxic cancer cells, which survive in low-oxygen environments, are resistant to conventional therapies such as radiotherapy. The authors concisely summarize the changes in gene expression and metabolism as well as immunological alterations in the tumor microenvironment that arises as a result of tumor hypoxia. Furthermore, they discuss therapeutic approaches that have been tested as hypoxia-alleviating strategies.

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According to the authors:

“In the age of targeted therapies, hypoxia has to be considered the ultimate target. Hypoxia exists in virtually all solid tumor types, it influences patient response to radio-, chemo-, and immune-therapy, and plays a major role in malignant progression.”

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At Kripthonite Therapeutics we are rising to this challenge of targeting hypoxia with our innovative technology. Our therapy exploits the energy metabolism of hypoxic cancer cells, eradicating them in a matter of hours. This not only directly kills the cancer cells but also makes the tumor more vulnerable to conventional therapies.

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Our lead candidate, PH1154, has shown remarkable results in preclinical studies in a hard-to-treat tumor model. Here, selective elimination of hypoxic tumor cells by PH1154 perfectly complemented the eradication of the normoxic bulk tumor by radiotherapy. This suggests the groundbreaking clinical potential of our approach.

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Join us in our mission to save lives by eliminating hypoxic cancer cells!

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*https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2020.00562/full