Several proteases, such as cysteine cathepsins, play central roles in the development of cancer and other diseases, but are considered difficult to drug because of their important physiological roles and the wide structural similarity between members of the same protease family. Our new peptide-based drugs overcome these issues because they are very specific for their protease target and can be delivered to specific cells, thereby avoiding any toxicity on healthy tissues. Our candidate drugs hold great promise for cancer patients that do not respond to currently available therapies.
Founding team: Dr. Petruzzella (PhD in Drug Development at EPFL), Prof. Correia and Prof. Oricchio (Associate Professors at EPFL, respectively working in Protein Engineering and Translational Cancer Research).