Echidna Therapeutics

Echidna Therapeutics is focused on glycosyltransferases as a novel targets for anticancer therapies. A new paradigm in human biology is that the proteins which do the essential work for the body are regulated by chains of sugars added to them by glycosyltransferases and in cancer excess activity drives tumour growth and metastasis. Echidna Therapeutics has established a collaboration with the University of Melbourne, and ONJCRI/La Trobe University. Our preliminary work tests the effects of the glycosyltransferase known as MGAT5 (GnTV) knockout in T cells and cancer cells to explore its potential as an anticancer target. Our results show that MGAT5 knockout enhances CD8+ T cell activity against melanoma and colorectal cancer cells and makes tumour cells more sensitive to these T cells. The goal of Echidna Therapeutics to develop drugs that target MGAT5 as novel drugs to treat cancer.