Our team have developed a groundbreaking new class of cancer therapy that modulates the role of macrophages in cancer to unlock the full potential of cancer therapeutics.

Overcoming the challenge 

Macrophages, also known as tumour associated macrophages (TAM), are immune cells that play a critical role in the body’s defence system, but in the context of cancer, they can be co-opted by the disease to promote its progression. These macrophages undermine the effectiveness of common cancer therapies by shielding cancer cells from treatment. 

Aethox researchers have discovered a key mechanism through which macrophages suppress the response to therapeutics. This mechanism inhibits current cancer treatments from engaging the full power of the immune system to help fight cancer, including preventing the recruitment of T-cells—another powerful immune cell needed to target and destroy cancer cells. To overcome this, we developed KCL-HO-1i to target this pathway, re-sensitizing treatment-resistant cancers and powerfully enhance their responsiveness to therapy.

KCL-HO-1i is a small-molecule therapeutic designed for convenient daily administration in tablet form for patients with cancer to accompany standard of care therapy treatments.

KCL-HO-1i unlocks the full potential for cancer therapeutics  

In sophisticated laboratory models of cancer, KCL-HO-1i restores sensitivity to chemotherapy in previously resistant cancers, leading to the eradication of tumours.  

KCL-HO-1i can make chemotherapy-resistant tumours responsive to treatment