6-Thio-dG Treatment for Pediatric Brain Tumors

ChangeBridge: Patent Grants - Therapeutics (A61P)

Published April 7th, 2026

Detected April 7th, 2026

Summary

The USPTO granted Patent US12594293B2 to The Board of Regents of The University of Texas System on April 7, 2026, covering the use of 6-thio-dG (a telomerase substrate precursor analog) to treat therapy-resistant telomerase-positive pediatric brain tumors including diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), high-grade glioma (HGG), and high-risk medulloblastoma. Inventors Jerry Shay and Rachid Drissi developed methods demonstrating that 6-thio-dG induces telomere dysfunction-induced foci, genomic DNA damage, cell death, and tumor growth delay in xenograft models.

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What changed

The USPTO issued Patent US12594293B2 granting exclusive rights to The Board of Regents of The University of Texas System for methods of treating pediatric brain tumors using 6-thio-dG. The patent covers telomerase-dependent incorporation of 6-thio-dG into telomeres leading to tumor cell death, with demonstrated efficacy in DIPG, HGG, and medulloblastoma models. The patent includes 9 claims covering composition and method-of-use aspects.

For pharmaceutical developers and researchers, this patent establishes IP barriers around 6-thio-dG for pediatric brain tumor applications. Companies pursuing similar telomerase-targeting therapies for these specific tumor types should conduct freedom-to-operate analyses. Research institutions may explore licensing arrangements or seek alternative therapeutic approaches outside the patent's scope.

What to do next

Monitor patent status for potential licensing opportunities
Review patent claims for freedom-to-operate analysis if developing competing therapies
Assess potential research collaboration with University of Texas System

Source document (simplified)

← USPTO Patent Grants

Use of 6-thio-dG to treat therapy-resistant telomerasepositive pediatric brain tumors

Grant US12594293B2 Kind: B2 Apr 07, 2026

Assignee

The Board of Regents of The University of Texas System

Inventors

Jerry Shay, Rachid Drissi

Abstract

Brain tumors remain the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in children and often are associated with long-term sequelae among survivors of current therapies. Telomerase and telomeres play important roles in cancer, representing attractive therapeutic targets to treat children with poor-prognosis brain tumors such as diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), high-grade glioma (HGG) and high-risk medulloblastoma (MB). It has shown that DIPG, HGG and MB frequently express telomerase activity. It is now shown that the telomerase-dependent incorporation of 6-thio-2′deoxyguanosine (6-thio-dG), a telomerase substrate precursor analog, into telomeres leads to telomere dysfunction-induced foci (TIFs) along with extensive genomic DNA damage, cell growth inhibition and cell death of primary stem-like cells derived from patients with DIPG, HGG and MB. Importantly, the effect of 6-thio-dG is persistent even after drug withdrawal. Treatment with 6-thio-dG elicits a sequential activation of ATR and ATM pathways and induces G2/M arrest. In vivo, treatment of mice bearing MB xenografts with 6-thio-dG delays tumor growth, increases in-tumor TIFs and apoptosis. Furthermore, 6-thio-dG crosses the blood-brain barrier and specifically targets tumor cells in an orthotopic mouse model of DIPG. Together, these findings suggest that 6-thio-dG is a promising approach to treat therapy-resistant telomerase-positive pediatric brain tumors.