The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) is seeking commercial partners interested in developing a composition of the synergistic anticancer agents rapamycin, paclitaxel and 17-AAG, encapsulated and solubilized by nontoxic, nanoscale PEG-b-PLA micelles.

17-allylamino,17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17-AAG) is a novel anticancer drug that is a less toxic analogue of the geldanamycin which binds to Hsp90 and alters its function. HSP90 client proteins play important roles in the regulation of the cell cycle, cell growth, cell survival, apoptosis, and oncogenesis. 17-AAG (Geldanamycin) binds into the ATP binding pocket in Hsp90 and induces the degradation of proteins that require this chaperone for conformational maturation. 17-AAG (Geldanamycin) inhibits Akt activation and expression in tumors and synergizes with a number of antitumor agents such as taxol, cisplatin, and UCN-014.

Ansamycins is a family of secondary metabolites that show antimicrobial activity against many gram-positive and some gram-negative bacteria and includes various compounds, among which: streptovaricins and rifamycins. In addition, these compounds demonstrate antiviral activity towards bacteriophages and poxviruses.

Blood vessels, literally the lifelines in our bodies, are essential to delivering the nutrients our organs need to survive. A term commonly referred to as angiogenesis. But angiogenesis also has a deadly side effect: they can also feed cancerous growths.