Targeting RANK receptor as a novel therapeutic strategy in triple negative breast cancer

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among females in the western world, resulting in nearly half a million deaths annually, mainly due to metastatic disease.

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) accounts for almost 15–20% of all breast cancers (300.000 women diagnosed worldwide per year) and is commonly diagnosed in women younger than age 40.

TNBC remains a clinical challenge due to high rate of relapse, a propensity to form visceral metastasis and limited targeted therapies. Thus, there is an urgent need to identify novel targeted therapies for the treatment of the TNBC.

TargetRANK is based on the innovative idea of generating novel drugs targeting RANK receptor – instead of its ligand RANKL – for the treatment of TNBC, as well as a new panel of anti-RANK human antibodies – for research and diagnostic purposes.

Small molecule inhibitors generated during the project could plausibly be positioned as a novel targeted therapy for TNBC and anti-RANK antibodies commercialized for research applications due to the lack of specific antibodies on the market.

The most important benefits of TargetRANK are based on the unmet need to improve the treatment of TNBC patients, and the economic burden for public health systems generated by standard non-selected and ineffective cancer treatments.

In addition, if drugs against RANK prove to be efficient, TargetRANK derived assets could also clinically benefit most of the patients suffering bone metastasis that are currently treated with bone resorption drugs, denosumab and bisphosphonates.

Although our products are aimed for breast cancer, they may be therapeutically relevant for other tumors expressing RANK as non-small cell lung cancer.

RANK antibodies will allow to stratify patients that might benefit from RANK blocking molecules, improving the existing treatments for skeletal-related events and reducing the main complications associated with life-altering morbidity affecting several types of prevalent cancers.