ErbBs subfamily receptors are mediators of cell growth signals. They have long been associated with a wide variety of lung, ovarian, colon, breast, prostate, and other carcinomas. Nucleolin is a major nucleolar protein of growing eukaryotic cells and is present on the cell surface of a range of cancers. Recently, a robust oncogenic interaction between ErbBs and nucleolin was found. Targeting cell-surface nucleolin suppresses cell and tumor growth in breast, prostate, and glioma cell lines together with positive results in in-vivo experiments

UNMET NEED
• ErbB-based targeted therapeutics are in clinical use and is the first line of treatment in a variety of carcinomas; nonetheless, drug resistance occurs, and the need for additional targeted drugs rises

OUR SOLUTION
• Targeting the oncogenic cooperation between ErbB, (Ras) and nucleolin inhibit tumor cell growth 
• a novel effective inhibitor peptide that reduces the binding of nucleolin to ErbB and thereby reduces signal transduction leading to reduction of cancer cells
• Stand alone and combined treatment with drugs that target ErbB interacting complex induce enhanced anti-tumor response and disrupt the interaction between the proteins resulting in tumor contraction

STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT 
• Proposed peptide displays robust inhibitory effect on multiplicity of cell lines
• In-vivo experiments in mice demonstrate a significant tumor size reduction

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
• Provisional patent 

REFERENCES 
Di Segni, A., Farin, K., & Pinkas-Kramarski, R. (2008). Identification of nucleolin as new ErbB receptors-interacting protein. PLoS ONE, 3(6). https://doi.org/10.1371/journa…
Farin, K., Schokoroy, S., Haklai, R., Cohen-Or, I., Elad-Sfadia, G., Reyes-Reyes, M. E., Bates, P. J., Cox, A. D., Kloog, Y., & Pinkas-Kramarski, R. (2011). Oncogenic synergism between ErbB1, nucleolin, and mutant ras. Cancer Research, 71(6), 2140–2151. https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5…
Wolfson, E., Goldenberg, M., Solomon, S., Frishberg, A., & Pinkas-Kramarski, R. (2016). Nucleolin-binding by ErbB2 enhances tumorigenicity of ErbB2-positive breast cancer. Oncotarget, 7(40), 65320–65334. https://doi.org/10.18632/oncot…