Lexicon Genetics Has Altered More Than One-Half of the Genes in the Mouse Genome
World's Largest Library of Knockout Mouse Embryonic Stem Cell Lines for Drug Discovery
THE WOODLANDS, Texas, Aug. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Lexicon Genetics Incorporated (Nasdaq: LEXG - news) announced today that it has altered more than one-half of the genes in the mouse genome for use in human drug discovery, a major milestone in its OmniBank® functional genomics operations. To determine the coverage, Lexicon evaluated DNA sequence from the 177,000 knockout mouse embryonic stem cell lines in OmniBank against thousands of randomly chosen full-length mouse genes and achieved 51.3 percent coverage. With the high degree of genetic similarity between the mouse and human, knockout mice are being used to unlock valuable information from the human genome for drug discovery. Some of these knockout-validated genes may encode therapeutic proteins themselves, therefore dramatically accelerating the drug discovery timeline.
``We have knocked out over half the genome -- an achievement at one time considered impossible. This is a significant landmark in our program to discover the pharmaceutically valuable genes in the human genome,'' said Brian P. Zambrowicz, Ph.D., Lexicon's Senior Vice President of Genomics. ``Our results suggest there are more than 60,000 human genes, greater than the numbers published by the Human Genome Project and Celera, and that the 177,000 knockout mouse embryonic stem cell lines in OmniBank represent hits in more than 30,000 corresponding mouse genes. Most significantly, this resource, together with our proprietary gene targeting technology, gives Lexicon what we believe to be an unprecedented capacity to discover the physiological function of genes in vivo.''
``OmniBank is the only embryonic stem cell library of its kind in the world, allowing medical and pharmaceutical research that cannot be conducted using human embryonic stem cell lines,'' said Arthur T. Sands, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Lexicon. ``OmniBank's 51 percent coverage level provides enormous benefits to our Genome5000 project, in which we are determining the function of 5,000 genes over five years for the discovery of new disease targets. We believe that knockout-validated genes are becoming the gold standard for drug development in the post-genome era.''
Lexicon uses its proprietary technologies to rapidly generate and analyze knockout mice in order to discover knockout-validated genes for pharmaceutical product development. Currently, hundreds of Lexicon's top priority gene knockouts are being evaluated in vivo to identify optimal targets for drug discovery and to find genes that encode therapeutic proteins, which may themselves be used as drugs. Families of genes encoding novel receptors, ion channels, proteases, kinases, and secreted proteins are included as knockouts in Lexicon's drug discovery programs. Such gene families are thought to be of the highest potential commercial value since most drugs act through genes in those categories. Lexicon has developed internal drug discovery programs in the areas of cancer, cardiovascular disease, immune disorders, neurological diseases, diabetes and obesity.
``Ultimately, genomic approaches for drug discovery will require in vivo mammalian validation. Lexicon's gene trapping technology has provided a method independent of genomic and expressed sequence tag (EST) DNA sequencing methods to discover genes and their functions,'' said Dr. Sands. ``With fewer than 500 genes targeted by traditional drug therapy, an incredible opportunity is in store for drug developers able to identify the targets for the next generation of human therapeutics. Lexicon is poised to harvest the value of genomics through its unique capability for discovering the key therapeutic switches in mammalian physiology.''... |
