Fast and deep penetration into tumors

The very rapid diffusion of the Nanofitins® within the whole tumor (90 minutes) due to their small size represents a core advantage over other vectoring agents, as it can deliver cytotoxic payloads on a more targeted manner. Notably, this size also allows non-engaged Nanofitins® to be rapidly cleared, highly reducing side effects observed with other vectoring solutions such as “on target off tumor”. However, we also demonstrated that, when engaged, Nanofitins® are still retained into the tumor 48 hours after injection.

         Reduced background noise for radio-imaging applications

Affilogic is coupling Nanofitins® directed against cancer biomarkers with quickly decaying radio-isotopes. We obtain a high contrast in PET imaging only 2 hours after injection in mice. This is an advantage of Nanofitins for imaging / radiotherapy applications as the limited recirculation of the radioactive agent in blood limits the potential toxicity and enables a simple handling of radioactive waste. Anti-EGF-R Nanofitins® conjugated to Fluorin-18 have been assessed as new molecular imaging agents for diagnosis of over-EGFR expressing tumour in partnership with the University of Liège Goux M et al., Nanofitin as a New Molecular-Imaging Agent for the Diagnosis of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Over-Expressing Tumors, Bioconjugate Chemistry 2017.

Highly efficient transport of cytotoxic compounds

Nanofitins® targeting cancer receptors can be selected for their capacity to deliver their payload into cancer cells, via a receptor-mediated mechanism. They are particularly fitted for active transport of cytotoxic drugs including radiopharmaceutical emitters. The high scaffold stability and the absence of cysteine allows regio-selective conjugation, and its small size allows near 100% Tumor penetration.

In-vivo data of anti-EGFR Nanofitin-Drug-Conjugates demonstrated EGFR positive tumor growth inhibition in xenograft mice (Huet et al., Targeted Nanofitin-drug Conjugates Achieve Efficient Tumor Delivery and Therapeutic Effect in an EGFRpos Mouse Xenograft Model, Mol Cancer Ther (2023))

In the framework of the OncoFitin Drug Conjugate project, Affilogic worked with the Institute of Experimental Biology and Technology (Portugal) and Geneva University (Switzerland), in partnership with Brussels University (Belgium). This project was partially sponsored from November 2017 to February 2020 by a grant from Eurostars / the European Commission via BPI France (DOS0059903).