# Copper-depleting nanotheranostics for treating triple negative breast cancer

> **NIH NIH R01** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $524,920

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Breast cancer is the number two cause of death among all types of cancers in women. The deadliest subtype
of breast cancer, triple-negative, carries the highest metastatic risk and poorest outcome due to the resistance
to current therapeutic methods. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an intrinsically heterogeneous disease.
Targeting single biomarker or oncogene often yields unsatisfactory therapeutic outcome in TNBC treatment. To
achieve a broader therapeutic benefit, our starting point is copper ion, one critical metal ion that plays
irreplaceable roles in a broad range of biochemical reactions. Copper excess in serum and cancerous tissues
has been long recognized in breast cancer patients. Dysregulation of copper metalloproteins is found to be
involved in uncontrolled growth, invasion, dissemination of cancer cells, angiogenesis and secondary tumor
formation at distant sites. Despite the well-recognized importance, successful attempts to treat cancer with
copper chelation are rather limited.
This project aims to establish a self-reporting copper depletion nanoplatform to effectively deplete copper in
TNBC and ultimately inhibit primary tumor progression and metastasis formation. This application is tightly
aligned with the program scope of the Innovative Research in Cancer Nanotechnology (IRCN) Initiative with
the goal to employ a novel nanotechnology-based approach to understand copper's role in breast cancer
biology systematically and to develop a powerful theranostic drug for TNBC patients. We will design copper-
depleting nanocomplex with high depleting efficiency, low toxicity and self-reporting function as TNBC
theranostics (Aim 1), determine the treatment effect of copper-depleting nanocomplex and identify the
therapeutic mechanism in vitro (Aim 2), and define the therapeutic efficacy of copper-depleting nanocomplex
for primary and metastatic TNBC tumor models (Aim 3).

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10472523
- **Project number:** 5R01CA243033-04
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Jianghong Rao
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $524,920
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-01 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10472523

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10472523, Copper-depleting nanotheranostics for treating triple negative breast cancer (5R01CA243033-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10472523. Licensed CC0.

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