Blocking Myc to Treat Cancer: Reflecting on Two Decades of Omomyc

Abstract

Inhibició de Myc; Càncer; Omomyc

Inhibición de myc; Cáncer; Omomyc

Myc inhibition; Cancer; Omomyc

First designed and published in 1998 as a laboratory tool to study Myc perturbation, Omomyc has come a long way in the past 22 years. This dominant negative has contributed to our understanding of Myc biology when expressed, first, in normal and cancer cells, and later in genetically-engineered mice, and has shown remarkable anti-cancer properties in a wide range of tumor types. The recently described therapeutic effect of purified Omomyc mini-protein—following the surprising discovery of its cell-penetrating capacity—constitutes a paradigm shift. Now, much more than a proof of concept, the most characterized Myc inhibitor to date is advancing in its drug development pipeline, pushing Myc inhibition into the clinic.

This research was funded by the European Commission (SME Instrument, Grant no. 872212), the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (FIS grant no. PI16-01224) and the European Research Council (CoG grant no. 617473).