At Tachyon, we are developing innovative therapies with drugs that target known cancer-driving mechanisms, while simultaneously seeking to address a major challenge of cancer therapeutics, which is the ability of cancer to circumvent therapies through resistance mechanisms. Effective mechanisms that can overcome cell populations which evade targeted therapeutics have yet to be identified. Our programs are focused on developing therapies that provide novel approaches to eradicating these cancerous cells by targeting core tumorigenic mechanisms.
The first of these targets is KDM4, which is a regulator of gene transcription linked to various oncogenic drivers, mutations or signaling pathways and plays an important role in epigenetic regulation of cancer stem cells.
The second program targets LEFTY1, which is a member of the TGF-b superfamily and plays a ubiquitous and regulatory role in cancer cell biology, including by promoting long-term proliferation of malignant cells and self-renewal of cancer stem cells.