Technologies that enable the identification of specific proteins that interact with drug and other small molecules represent a significant unmet need in the study of chemical-induced effects in humans. A robust, general method for identification of both the therapeutic and side-effect protein targets of small molecules would have tremendous commercial value. This application is to employ an innovative technology - ProCode (for Protein Coding) - to perform affinity panning and isolate candidate binding proteins to a small molecule drug, estrogen (estradiol). The ProCode technology is designed to increase the sensitivity of polypeptide detection from - 10e9 copies level achievable by conventional mass spectroscopy to 1-100 copies (comparable to polymerase chain reaction). At the end of the six-month research period of Phase I, the project is expected to yield cDNA sequences that encode protein(s) capable of specifically interacting with estradiol. The resultant list of identified proteins should contain the known estradiol binding nuclear receptor and possibly novel estrogen binding proteins.The long commercial objective of Xencor is to become the leader in developing affinity proteomics technologies and applying them in drug discovery. This application is therefore positioned to become one of core technologies that enable Xencor to reach its commercial goals.
