>>AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Introgen Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: INGN - news) announced that INGN 251, its PTEN gene drug, inhibits human colorectal tumors in animals. These were among the findings presented at the international meeting held by the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) today in Florida. The presentation abstract will be published in the conference proceedings and in a supplement to the November 2001 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.
``Colorectal cancer is an appropriate target for gene therapy because no adequate non-surgical treatments exist,'' said Keith Coffee, M.D., Ph.D., director of clinical sciences at Introgen Therapeutics. ``The data show Introgen's drug, INGN 251, which delivers the anti-cancer PTEN gene into cells using Introgen's clinically proven delivery system, inhibits the growth of cancer cells. Based on this discovery, we will continue to evaluate INGN 251 as a possible treatment for this disease.''
Xin Swanson, Ph.D., Introgen's project leader for INGN 251, presented the laboratory studies' data at the meeting Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics: Discovery, Biology, and Clinical Applications. Introgen holds an exclusive license for gene therapy applications from Imperial Cancer Research Technology Ltd. for a U.S. patent issued for the PTEN gene. Introgen also investigates PTEN as part of its collaboration with the Texas Heart Institute.
In studies using two rodent models of colorectal cancer, INGN 251 significantly slowed the rate of growth of colorectal tumors. In a second study, investigators observed the production of high levels of PTEN protein which significantly slowed the growth of cancer cells in all five human cell lines tested. Importantly, Swanson noted, the cause of the growth inhibition of the cells appears to result from increased apoptosis, or programmed cell death, and occurred even though researchers did not detect mutations in the PTEN gene in the cell lines.
The PTEN gene is critical to a normal cell's growth control mechanisms, and is frequently lost in a number of cancers, including colorectal cancer. Over-expression of PTEN protein slows the growth of and/or causes the increased death of numerous types of cancer cells, yet has minimal effects on normal cells, effecting a targeted approach to killing cancer cells, Swanson explains. PTEN is also involved in cell migration, invasion and metastasis, and in the formation of blood vessels, processes crucial for the growth and spread of a cancer.
This year, more than 50,000 Americans will die from colorectal cancer and approximately 130,000 new cases will be diagnosed, according to the American Gastroenterological Association. Surgery is the most common form of therapy for this cancer, but is only effective if the cancer is detected early and has not spread. When the disease metastasizes, common treatments are often ineffective.<<
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Cheers, Tuck |
