Goblet cells -> MUC1 ->Pancreatic/Breast Ca -> Goblet Study Goblet cells are specialized epithelial cells that are essential to the formation of the mucus barriers in the airways and intestines. It is intriguing to consider that goblet cells can tailor mucin structure in response to a given pathogen.
Mucins are a group of genes that transcribe for glycoproteins (MUC1-9) and that are differentially expressed in various tumor types.
Epithelial mucins (MUC1, MUC2, and MUC5) are frequently overexpressed in epithelial cancers, particularly those arising in the gastrointestinal tract and pancreas. MUC1 (mammary-type mucin) is a membrane-associated glycoprotein detected in most epithelial tissues and is highly expressed in the pancreas and breast.
On June 28, 2022 ONCY announced that the pancreatic cancer cohort of the multi-indication phase 1/2 GOBLET study had met the efficacy expansion criteria for Stage 1 of the trial - with 3/3 patients demonstrating a 50% reduction in pancreatic tumor size in those patients treated with I/O therapy consisting of the combination of ONCY's pelareorep + Roche's immune checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab (Tecentriq) showing that this I/O combination can effectively target and overcome MUC1 overexpression in pancreatic cancer and thus very likely breast cancer and other GI cancers as well.