Regen BioPharma Inc. announced that the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Regen have entered into a formal research collaboration agreement to jointly explore the biology of the NR2F6 protein. Specifically, the collaboration will focus on identifying ligands for the nuclear receptor NR2F6 using Regen's patented screening methodology and the sophisticated expertise and unique chemical libraries of NCATS. A ligand is a substance that forms a complex with a biomolecule to serve a biological purpose.

The NR2F6 nuclear receptor has been identified as a potentially important immune cell inhibitor (an immune checkpoint) and cancer stem cell differentiator. The NR2F6 program at Regen aims to identify agonists and antagonists of NR2F6 in an effort to unleash the cancer-killing potential of a patient's own immune system.