Preclinical study identifies ascites targets and tests E8 nanobody in
A Singapore research team identified PAI-1 and S100A10 as tumor growth drivers in the ascites microenvironment of peritoneal metastases. They developed a nanobody, E8, which successfully suppressed tumor growth with minimal toxicity in pre-clinical animal and cell models.
Why it matters
This biomedical discovery offers a potential new targeted therapeutic approach for aggressive abdominal cancers with poor prognoses, though human clinical trials are still pending.
<p>A Singapore research team has identified PAI-1 and S100A10 as drivers of tumour growth in the ascites microenvironment and developed a nanobody, E8, that targets PAI-1. The experimental study found that E8 suppressed tumour growth with minimal toxicity in cell assays, mouse models and ex vivo human tissue explants; it did not test E8 in people with cancer.</p><p>The work was led by the National Cancer Centre Singapore in collaboration with the A*STAR Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Singapore General Hospital and the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore. The peer-reviewed paper, “Identification of novel paracrine therapeutic targets in peritoneal metastases through integrative proteotranscriptomic analysis of ascites,” was published in <em>Molecular Cancer</em> on 11 September 2026.</p><p>Peritoneal metastases occur when cancers originating in abdominal organs spread to the peritoneum, the lining of the abdominal cavity.
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