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Argonaut Therapeutics is developing cancer medicines that target the enzymes which cause abnormal arginine methylation in cancer. The company has developed inhibitors of protein arginine methyl-transferase (PRMT), enzymes that methylates arginine, one of the amino acid building blocks of proteins. Methylation of arginine affects cellular processes such as epigenetic control of gene expression, RNA processing and protein translation. Arginine methylation has a key role in cancerous cell growth. Argonaut Therapeutics is targeting PRMT enzymes for the purpose of halting cancer cell growth through a mechanism where natural cell suicide mechanisms are restored.
Argonaut Therapeutic’s anti-cancer drug in development, PRMT5, inhibits methylation of E2F-1, which inhibits tumor cell proliferation. PRMT5, at the non-clinical research stage as of 2018, is being tested for potential treatment of glioblastoma, pancreatic cancer and metastatic gastric cancer.
In 2018 JW Pharmaceutical, a South Korea-based pharmaceutical products company, invested $2.5 million in Argonaut Therapeutics. JW Pharmaceuticals has a 25% share in the company. As of 2018 Oxford Sciences Innovation is the largest shareholder of Argonaut.
