Australia-based startup EpiAxis Therapeutics has signed a material transfer agreement (MTA) with Seattle Children’s Research Institute that will help researchers study a new approach to treating paediatric brain cancer.

As part of the agreement, EpiAxis Therapeutics will supply its lead peptide candidates for assessment in the laboratory of Dr Myron Evans II, principal investigator at the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research at Seattle Children’s Research Institute and assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine, with the goal of informing a new wave of brain tumour treatments that are more targeted than current therapies, with fewer side effects.

“Using novel inhibitors against LSD1 (Lysine-specific demethylase 1) as a treatment for paediatric brain tumours has the potential to enhance efficacy, which could bypass a number of problems associated with existing chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Our first-in-class assets at EpiAxis Therapeutics have dual action and target dormant chemotherapy resistant cells while also improving the immune response against the persisting cells", said EpiAxis Therapeutics CEO Dr Jeremy Chrisp.

Dr Evans II will be leading the project utilising EpiAxis’ lead peptide candidates. His research programme focuses on epigenetic regulation in central nervous system development and how deregulation contributes to paediatric brain tumours.

“For paediatric tumours, deregulation of normal epigenetic processes is central to tumour formation and provides novel avenues for targeted cancer therapy” said Dr Evans II.