Campochiaro is a consultant to CIBA Vision Corp. The terms of this arrangement are being managed by the Johns Hopkins University in accordance with its conflict of interest policies.
I am skeptical that this development has anything to do with SUGN, but there is a connection between SU101, (the Company's most advanced product candidate, is an inhibitor
of the platelet-derived growth factor receptor ("PDGF TK") signalling pathway) and the drug. I went to unsci.com and searched on pdgf and came up with a different form of the same article.
Extract:
In diabetics, high blood sugar through a cascade of events can lead to damage to normal retinal blood vessels and a decrease in the supply of oxygen and nutrients. The retina calls for backup by releasing vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a substance that stimulates new blood vessels to grow to try to compensate. However, the backup blood vessels generally are faulty; they leak, bleed and encourage scar tissue that detaches the retina, resulting in severe loss of vision.
In macular degeneration, abnormal blood vessels grow beneath the central part of the retina, called the macula. They also leak, bleed and cause scarring that results in loss of central vision and with it, the ability to read or drive.
VEGF trips a switch that ignites a chain reaction culminating in new blood vessel growth. The switch is the VEGF receptor, a protein that is activated by VEGF after which it activates the next link in the chain. A few links downstream is protein kinase C, an enzyme that appears to be important in keeping the chain reaction going. Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) is structurally similar to VEGF and may stoke the fires of the chain reaction from another direction.
PKC 412 may mount a three-pronged attack on the chain reaction. It blocks the actions of the receptors for VEGF and PDGF, and also blocks protein kinase C. Campochiaro and his colleagues are trying to determine if one, two or all three of these actions are responsible for the dramatic effects of PKC 412. While PKC 412 blocks new abnormal blood vessel growth, it has no apparent adverse effects on normal, fully mature blood vessels.
Current treatments for diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration include laser treatment or surgery to eliminate the abnormal blood vessels. But, in addition to risks associated with surgery, the treatments do nothing to treat the underlying stimuli for blood vessel growth, Campochiaro says.
"As a result, the blood vessels tend to come back," he says. "Even with initially successful treatments, many patients still end up with severe loss of vision."
End Extract:
unisci.com
A PKC story:
unisci.com
But the real keyword is kinase:
techstocks.com
Sugen and kinase:
SUGEN is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and
development of small molecule drugs which target specific cellular signal
transduction pathways. These signalling pathways are regulated by cell-surface
receptors or intracellular signalling molecules known as tyrosine kinases
("TKs"), tyrosine phosphatases ("TPs") and serine-threonine kinases ("STKs"),
three of the largest known families of receptors in the body and key regulators
of critical cellular functions. Aberrant signalling of TKs, TPs and STKs has
been shown to result in a variety of chronic and acute pathological diseases,
including cancer and diabetes as well as in dermatologic, ophthalmic, neurologic
and immune disorders. The Company believes that compounds designed to target
certain kinases and phosphatases and inhibit enzyme activity or prevent the
binding of downstream signalling molecules make attractive therapeutic product
candidates. The Company's research and development efforts in signal
transduction are based in part upon the pioneering accomplishments of SUGEN's
founding scientists, Dr. Axel Ullrich of Max-Planck-Institut fur Biochemie
("MPI") and Dr. Joseph Schlessinger of |
