EXCLUSIVE: Aesther Healthcare's Merger Partner Ocean Biomedical Unveils Discovery Data For Major Anti-Tumor Pathway In Skin Cancer

Ocean Biomedical and its SPAC merger partner Aesther Healthcare Acquisition Corp AEHA have discovered a second anti-tumor pathway and therapeutic approach targeting CTLA-4, inhibiting the metastasis of malignant melanoma cells to the lung using a novel bispecific antibody approach. 

What Happened: The regulating mechanism discovery was recently published in Frontiers in Immunology by Ocean Biomedical's Scientific Co-founder, Jack A. Elias.

The mechanism builds on Jack's team's initial discoveries that target Chitinase 3-like-1 (CHI3LI) and its role in inhibiting T-cell proliferation. 

Additionally, the research reveals a third anti-tumor pathway targeting T-cell co-stimulation using the inducible co-stimulator (ICOS) and its ligand ICOSL and Cluster of Differentiation 28 (CD28) and its ligands B7-1 and B7-2. 

Ocean has also generated antibodies:

• Monoclonal antibody against CHI3L1.
• Bispecific antibodies that simultaneously target CHI3L1 and PD-1.
• A new bispecific antibody that simultaneously targets CHI3L1 and CTLA4. 

Why It's Important: Ocean Biomedical's approach to tumor suppression is focused on controlling CHI3LI, other immune checkpoint inhibitors, and T-cell co-stimulators and has potential applications for tumor suppression across multiple cancer pathways. 

"If you control CH3L1, you don't just control one anti-cancer pathway, you simultaneously control many anti-cancer pathways", commented Dr. Jack A. Elias.

Recent studies from Ocean Biomedical have demonstrated that CHI3L1 is a critical regulator of several key cancer-causing pathways, highlighting its ability to inhibit tumor cell death (apoptosis), its inhibition of the expression of the tumor suppressors P53 and PTEN, and its stimulation of the B-RAF protooncogene.