Domagoj Vucic to Speak at 5th Cancer Targets & Therapeutics Conference - July 7-8, 2014, in Boston

Boston, MA, May 21, 2014 --(PR.com)-- Domagoj Vucic, Senior Scientist at Genentech will give a presentation on “Defining Sensitivity Factors for the Treatment of Cancers with IAP Antagonists” at the 5th Cancer Targets & Therapeutics Conference to be held on July 7-8, 2014, in Boston, MA.

The regulated modification and degradation of cellular proteins by the ubiquitin-proteasome system are critical for modulation of many essential cellular processes including cell death. Inhibitors of apoptosis (IAP) proteins regulate cancer cell survival through their RING domain ubiquitin ligase activity. IAP protein family members block cell death in response to diverse stimuli and are expressed at elevated levels in the majority of human malignancies, which makes them attractive targets for developing a novel class of cancer therapeutics. Dr. Vucic will discuss how they’ve designed small-molecule IAP antagonists (smac mimetics) that bind with high affinities to select baculovirus IAP repeat (BIR) domains of IAPs resulting in a dramatic induction of c IAP auto-ubiquitination activity and rapid proteasomal degradation. The benefit of this talk is to understand the mechanistic reason for the resistance of cancer to standard of care therapies, identification of relevant resistance factors, update on current clinical trials with IAP antagonists, and understand the mechanism(s) of relevant cellular signaling pathways.

GTCBio's 5th Cancer Targets & Therapeutics Conference will continue to be a premier event for translational researchers, pharmacology experts, preclinical scientists and managers, and those carrying out early phase clinical trials, working to identify and exploit advances in the field in order to deliver products with a meaningful clinical impact. Both cutting-edge researchers and those who guide its commercial development will be on hand to share their knowledge and insights as to how therapeutic cancer targets are identified, and how this research translates into meaningful therapeutics that benefit patients living with cancer.

This conference is part of the larger Novel Cancer Therapeutics Summit, which consists of two co-located parallel conferences:

5th Cancer Targets & Therapeutics Conference
3rd Oncology Partnering & Deal-Making Conference

For more information, please visit www.gtcbio.com