Scientific portfolio

Intellectual property

Sortina continues to build a strong patent portfolio protecting broad assets in a competitive space.

Patent table

Our patented SORT-molecules

Sortina Pharma is at the forefront of pioneering a groundbreaking oral treatment using novel anti-sortilin small molecules. Our cutting-edge small molecules bind specifically to a universal binding site on sortilin, serving as potent inhibitors of progranulin and other associated effector proteins. Building of those properties, we are committed to advance innovative solutions in the sortilin field, in cancer, neurodegenerative disease, and beyond.

Sortina´s primary mission is to develop an effective blood brain barrier breaching first in class oral pharmacotherapy for patients with or at risk of recurrent and metastatic cancer with first indication Glioblastoma Multiforme. The potential area of implementation of our innovation extends across diverse therapeutic landscapes, including other sortilin-driven cancers and diseases affecting the central nervous system.

Sortina Pharma’s novel chemical entities

  • Highly potent with low nM activity

  • Target the progranulin binding site

  • No detected off-targets

  • High metabolic stability in vitro (mouse and human)

  • Excellent pharmacokinetics in mice

  • Good penetration of blood brain barrier (BBB)

  • Proof of concept in vivo with effect on infiltration, migration and metastasis

  • Proof of concept in patient derived ex vivo analysis

Scientific rationale

Sortilin: An encouraging therapeutic target

Sortilin, a multifaceted protein involved in various cellular processes and plays a significant role in several diseases. Its implications in disease pathology have been a subject of extensive research, shedding light on sortilin as a promising therapeutic target. Sortilin’s involvement has been observed in conditions such as cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, cardiovascular diseases, and metabolic disorders.

In its regular state, sortilin is involved in intracellular trafficking, protein sorting, and receptor signaling. Its normal functions include regulating the transport of molecules within cells and participating in the proper sorting of proteins to specific cellular compartments. However, abnormalities in sortilin expression or function can contribute to the development and progression of various diseases such as cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.

Sortilin's Impact in Cancer

In cancer, sortilin’s overexpression has been associated with increased tumor aggressiveness, metastasis, and resistance to certain cancer therapies for several cancer indications including Breast Cancer, Glioblastoma, Colon Cancer, Pancreatic Cancer, and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (Berger et al., BMC cancer, 2021, W. Yang et al., Cell death disease 2019, Blondy et al., J. Cell Mol. Med 2021, F. Gao et al Scientific reports 2018 L. Farahi et al Avicenna J Med Biotech. 2019).

Sortilin's Role in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Abnormalities in sortilin have been linked to processes like protein aggregation, neuroinflammation, and neuronal cell death, contributing to conditions like Frontotemporal Dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson´s disease and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Targeting sortilin in therapeutic strategies might offer a novel approach to modulate cellular processes and potentially alleviate the impact of CNS diseases.

Key Publications

Oncology

Publications from Landberg lab

Berger et al., 2023, Cancers, Interleukin-6 Induces Stem Cell Propagation through Liaison with the Sortilin-Progranulin Axis in Breast Cancer

Berger et al., 2021, BMC Cancer, Tumor co-expression of progranulin and sortilin as a prognostic biomarker in breast cancer

Berger et al.,2021, J Med Chem., Reduction of Progranulin-Induced Breast Cancer Stem Cell Propagation by Sortilin-Targeting Cyclotriazadisulfonamide (CADA) Compounds

Persson et al., 2021 Cell Commun Signal, Patient-derived scaffolds influence secretion profiles in cancer cells mirroring clinical features and breast cancer subtypes

Rhost et al., 2018, BCR, Sortilin inhibition limits secretion-induced progranulin-dependent breast cancer progression and cancer stem cell expansion

External publications

Marsland et al., 2023, Cancers, The Membrane Protein Sortilin Is a Potential Biomarker and target for Glioblastoma

Gao et al., 2022, J Oncology, Sortilin 1 Promotes Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cell Proliferation and Migration by Regulating Immune Cell Infiltration

Ye et al., 2022, Human Exp Tox, Sortilin 1 regulates hepatocellular carcinoma progression by activating the PI3K/AKT signaling

Demeule, 2022, Pharmaceutics, The TH1902 Docetaxel peptide-drug conjugate inhibits xenografts growth of human SORT1-positive ovarian and triple-negative breast cancer stem-like cells

Blondy et al., 2020, J Cell Mol. Med., Overexpression of sortilin is associated with 5-FU resistance and poor prognosis in colorectal cancer,

Gao et al., 2020, A. Soc. Invest. Path. The Membrane Protein Sortilin Can Be Targeted to Inhibit Pancreatic Cancer Cell Invasion

Yang et al., 2019, Cell Death & Disease, Sortilin promotes glioblastoma invasion and mesenchymal transition through GSK-3β/β-catenin/twist pathway

Roselli et al., 2015, Oncotarget, Sortilin is associated with breast cancer aggressiveness and contributes to tumor cell adhesion and invasion

Serrero et al., 2012, BCR, Progranulin (GP88) tumor tissue expression is associated with increased risk of recurrence in breast cancer patients diagnosed with estrogen receptor positive invasive ductal carcinoma

Koo et al., 2012, PLoS ONE, Progranulin as a prognostic biomarker for breast cancer recurrence in patients who had hormone receptor-positive tumors: A cohort study

CNS

Kurnellas et al., 2023, J transl Med, Latozinemab, a novelprogranulin-elevating therapy for frontotemporal dementia

Hu et al., 2010, Neuron, Sortilin-mediated endocytosisdetermines levels of the frontotemporal dementia protein, progranulin