A team led by Ajou University Professor Yong Sung Kim (Department of Applied Chemical & Biological Engineering, Graduate School's Department of Molecular Science and Technology, pictured above) developed an antibody that can control a cancer-causing protein within a cell. The breakthrough finding is expected to contribute to developing new antibody-based medicines for cancer treatment.

The findings of Professor Kim were published on May 10th in the online edition of Nature Communications, an international academic journal.

Professor Kim succeeded in developing the antibody-related technology that directly targets Ras, one of the most well-known mutant proteins that cause tumors within cells, and keeps tumors from growing.

Ras is found in about 30 percent of human tumors and is closely related to pancreatic cancer (95 percent) and colorectal cancer (52 percent), which makes the development of medicines for curing these cancers urgent. However, no such medicine targeting Ras has been developed despite the hard work of numerous researchers.

The accomplishment of Professor Kim is even more significant in that it has opened the doors to developing new antibody-based medicines for the previously indestructible Ras mutant.

Professor Kim explained, "Existing antibodies targeted only the surface of cells (membrane protein and secretory protein)," adding, "The technology developed by my team blocks the growth signal sent by the Ras mutant by directly penetrating protoplasm."

With the findings, he has acquired two domestic patents and filed for international patents in 14 countries including the U.S. The research is supported by the Pioneer Projects for Promising Convergence Technologies for the Future carried out by the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning.

Last year, Professor Kim established Orum Therapeutics (CEO Seung Ju Lee) to commercialize the original technology for the cell-penetrating interfering antibody. The latest technology developed by his team is expected to make a remarkable difference in the domestic and overseas antibody medicine markets once the relevant products are released after clinical tests.

< Mechanism of targeting Ras protein – An antibody penetrates a cell by combining with an integrin receptor that is overly expressed on the surface of the oncocyte. It then attaches to the Ras mutant, the targeted protein within the protoplasm, in a unique way. The interfering antibody hinders the growth and division of tumor cells in this way. >

< The above pictures show test results of mice with colorectal cancer and fibrosarcoma. You can see that the antibodies targeting Ras mutants effectively hindered the growth of tumor cells. >