Anti-CA9/MN: Mouse CA9/MN Antibody

Cells of the growing tumor tissue are exposed to physiological stresses connected with insufficient delivery of oxygen (hypoxia) and accumulation of acidic products of the glycolytic metabolism (acidosis). Adaptation to these microenvironmental stresses involves remodeling of the cellular expression program mediated by hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF), which activates broad array of genes functionally involved in angiogenesis, anaerobic glycolysis, de-adhesion, invasion etc. This leads to increased aggressiveness of tumors, metastatic spread and poor response to therapy.² CA9 was recently shown to contribute to acidification of the tumor environment, by efficiently catalyzing the hydration of carbon dioxide to bicarbonate and protons with its extracellularly situated active site, leading both to the acquisition of metastasic phenotypes and to chemoresistance with weakly basic anticancer drugs. Inhibition of this enzymatic activity by specific and potent inhibitors was shown to revert these acidification processes, establishing a clear-cut role of CA9 in tumorigenesis. The development of a wide range of potent and selective CA9 inhibitors belonging to diverse chemical classes, such as membrane-impermeant, fluorescent or metal-containing such agents, could thus provide useful tools for highlighting the exact role of CA9 in hypoxic cancers, to control the pH (im)balance of tumor cells, and to develop novel diagnostic or therapeutic applications for the management of tumors. Indeed, both fluorescent inhibitors or positively charged, membrane impermeant sulfonamides have been recently developed as potent CA9 inhibitors and used as proof-of-concept tools for demonstrating that CA9 constitutes a novel and interesting target for the anticancer drug development.³