Matthew Gdovin, Ph.D. to Present at the 2nd International Prostate Cancer Symposium and Inaugural World Congress of Urologic Oncology Satellite Session

Matthew Gdovin, Ph.D., University of Texas – San Antonio Professor and Chief Science Officer of Vitanova Biomedical, the San Antonio, Texas-based biotech company dedicated to delivering transformative cancer therapy utilizing their patented Light-Activated Intracellular Acidosis (LAIA) platform technology, will present at the 2nd International Prostate Cancer Symposium and Inaugural World Congress of Urologic Oncology being held September 6-9, 2017 in New York, NY. Dr. Gdovin will be speaking at a satellite session not accredited for CME.

As an overview of Dr. Gdovin’s lecture, the following abstract has been provided:

Innovative and emerging strategies for targeted treatment of cancer using nanoparticles - Application in prostate cancer research
Gdovin MJ, Agbo C, Holliday S, Kim B, Mazuca D, Park J, Ramirez Y, and Vaidya M. Department of Biology, The University of Texas at San Antonio.

Surgical removal, chemotherapeutics and/or radiation are the primary cancer treatments. Unfortunately, both chemotherapy and radiation present the patient with debilitating systemic side effects. In addition, patient comorbidity often excludes patients as candidates for surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation.

Our ability to cause intracellular acidification in cancer cells has the potential to kill any tumor type in a precise manner without producing systemic side effects. In addition, the mechanism of cell death may evoke an immunogenic response that may also result in metastatic cancer cell death. We developed a technique able to cause focal and precise decreases in the intracellular pH which induces rapid cancer cell death. The technology involves the light-activated release of H+ from nitrobenzaldehyde (NBA) using ultraviolet (UV) light.

Our in vitro data show that this technique is not cancer specific, as we have successfully induced cell death in multiple cancer cell types. Initial studies indicate that Light-Activated Intracellular Acidosis (LAIA) causes a pH-induced apoptosis to occur in up to 85-98% of cancer cells death. Triple negative breast cancer tumors in mice were significantly reduced and survival was nearly doubled in response to a single LAIA treatment. We are developing a targeted upconverting nanoparticle which is capable of inducing LAIA within prostate cancer.

“In collaboration with Drs. Tewari and Nair, we plan to develop a PSMA targeted nanoparticle for the treatment of prostate cancer. We envision the creation of a platform technology capable of fabricating precision nanoparticles engineered to use ligand-receptor or antibody-antigen targeting to specific cancer cell types,” said Dr. Gdovin.

About Vitanova Biomedical
Vitanova Biomedical is a San Antonio, Texas-based biotech company dedicated to delivering transformative cancer therapy utilizing their patented Light-Activated Intracellular Acidosis (LAIA) platform technology.