Background
Angiogenesis is a fundamental process in cancer progression, enabling tumors to grow and metastasize by forming new blood vessels. Vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) is a central driver of this process and a primary target for existing anti-angiogenic therapies.
However, clinical resistance often develops through the compensatory upregulation of placental growth factor (PlGF), which also promotes pathological angiogenesis and shares key receptors with VEGFA, including VEGFR1 and neuropilin-1. The overlapping signaling pathways of VEGFA and PlGF, combined with limited therapeutic tools for selectively targeting PlGF, present a significant barrier to improving treatment outcomes.
Technology overview
This antibody toolkit comprises nine novel monoclonal antibodies designed to bind human VEGFA and/or PlGF with distinct specificities and competitive binding properties. Two antibodies, C1 and C6, exhibit natural cross-reactivity, binding both VEGFA and PlGF via the same antigen-binding domain. Other antibodies offer targeted competition: C1 blocks NRP1 binding to PlGF2, C5 blocks VEGFR1-PlGF2 interaction, and C7 blocks NRP1 binding to VEGFA165. Antibodies C3 and C4 are cross-species reactive and bind both human and mouse PlGF2.
Critically, these antibodies retain competitive binding activity in the presence of heparin, a physiological enhancer of receptor binding. Functional assays show that selected antibodies inhibit endothelial tube formation and suppress tumor cell proliferation, demonstrating their potential as both research tools and therapeutic agents.
Benefits
- Simultaneously targets VEGFA and PlGF to prevent resistance mechanisms
- Offers specific receptor competition, improving therapeutic precision
- Maintains binding efficacy even in the presence of heparin
- Includes cross-species reactive antibodies for preclinical validation
- Inhibits angiogenesis and tumor growth in functional assays
Applications
- Anti-angiogenic cancer therapy
- Research tools for VEGFA/PlGF signaling pathways
- Resistance mechanism studies in oncology
- Combination immunotherapy development
- Companion diagnostics for angiogenic biomarkers
Opportunity
- Addresses a key limitation in current anti-angiogenic treatments by targeting PlGF
- Provides a platform for dual-target therapies to improve efficacy and reduce resistance
- Suitable for therapeutic development, preclinical research, and clinical translation
- Available for exclusive licensing
Intellectual property
US Provisional patent filed
