Well, the "news" seems to have helped on erasing yesterday's and the earlier today loss.<g>
New Publication Highlights Anti-Metastatic Properties of Introgen's INGN 241 in Preclinical Models of Lung Cancer
Thursday May 13, 1:30 pm ET
AUSTIN, Texas, May 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Data appearing in the current issue of Molecular Therapy describe the mechanism by which expression of the mda-7 gene, the active component of INGN 241, inhibits invasion and migration of human lung cancer cells.
Introgen Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: INGN - News) is developing INGN 241, currently in Phase 2 clinical trials for metastatic melanoma and has completed Phase 1 - 2 trials in multiple solid tumor indications.
Researchers at Introgen and The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center conducted the studies and the data are reported in a paper titled "Ectopic Production of MDA-7/IL-24 Inhibits Invasion and Migration of Human Lung Cancer Cells." Additional findings from these studies are scheduled to be presented at the 7th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Gene Therapy, June 2nd - 6th (Abstract #954).
"A key challenge in treating cancer is the spread of disease from the primary tumor to disparate sites within the body," said Sunil Chada, Ph.D., Introgen's director of Research and Development.
"The results of these studies demonstrate that INGN 241 inhibits the migration and invasion of lung cancer cells. Moreover, the data also define the specific proteins and molecular pathways through which this effect is mediated, which may help to expand our understanding of the molecular biology of metastasis.
Our clinical and preclinical experience with INGN 241 suggests that this multi-functional product candidate may have significant utility in treating primary tumors as well as preventing the spread of cancer to other parts of the body. Reducing the number and rate of metastases may positively impact the long-term outcomes of cancer patients."
In these studies, conducted in the laboratory of Dr. Rajagopal Ramesh, Assistant Professor in the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, the impact of INGN 241 (Ad-mda7) protein on the migration and invasion of human lung cancer cells was examined in two cultured cell lines and in animals implanted with human lung tumors.
Cell culture studies demonstrated that expression of MDA-7 protein resulted in a significant decrease in cancer cell migration compared with controls.
Further analysis of treated and untreated cells detected changes in several migration- related proteins, providing a molecular mechanism for the observed reduction in migration.
When treated or un-treated human lung cancer cells were implanted into mice, the INGN 241-treated animals had significantly fewer lung tumor nodules, indicating a significant inhibition of metastasis.
This data was validated using a non-viral method for mda-7 gene delivery in a model of human lung tumor metastasis -- again significant inhibition of metastasis was observed.
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