Evaluating in vivo the antitumoral efficacy of an antibody drug conjugate agaisnt FSHR – FSHRcancer

The follicle-stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) is expressed selectively on the luminal surface of tumor blood vessels located at the periphery of the tumors. Disruption of FSHR+ blood vessels may provide a new strategy in cancer therapy. The objective of this project is to obtain preclinical proof of concept (POC) of targeting FSHR to treat cancer, by using an antibody drug conjugate (ADC, anti-FSHR antibodies coupled to a cytotoxic drug). We have obtained a high affinity monoclonal antibody against human FSHR (EC50 = 89 pM) and we have generated immunodeficient transgenic hFSHR+/+RAG1-/-mice expressing the human FSHR. Importantly, we have demonstrated that in these mice vessels of patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) ectopically express the human FSHR. The consortium behind FSHR Cancer includes three very complementary partners: The Translational Research Department of Institut Curie, the recently established biotech Emergence Therapeutics and the start-up company FSHR Theranostics.