Tuesday April 9, 7:30 am Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Rigel Announces Data on Its Multiple Cancer Therapy Targets at AACR Meeting
Company Focused on New Pathways That Regulate Cell Proliferation
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., April 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc (Nasdaq: RIGL - news) announced today at the 93rd annual meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) that data presented on its multiple potential cancer therapy targets are helping to shed new light on pathways that may play a role in uncontrolled cell reproduction that is the hallmark of malignant cells. Rigel believes that this insight into the role of pathways is the first step in uncovering potential new ways to treat many types of cancer.
``The research showcased at AACR is typical of Rigel's functional approach to drug discovery,'' said Donald G. Payan, the company's executive vice president and chief scientific officer. ``We have identified new cell regulatory mechanisms that directly affect cell division. These novel potential drug targets will serve to accelerate our focused drug development programs.''
In the new research, Rigel identified several proteins that influence cell arrest, i.e., the switching off of a cell's ability to replicate, and the proteins that regulate these cells. One of these regulators, called LETM-1, caused potent cell arrest at the earliest stages of reproduction. Another regulator, part of the Mi-2 histone deacetylase complex, allowed cells to reproduce even after they were exposed to a protein known to induce cell arrest.
Rigel researchers also presented findings about a class of proteins known as ubiquitin ligases, which currently are the subject of intense industry-wide interest in cancer research and a major focus of the company's research. Ubiquitin ligases are enzymes that mediate the degradation of proteins, which in turn affects many important cellular functions, including cell division. Researchers in Rigel's ubiquitin ligase drug discovery program have identified small molecule inhibitors of this class of enzymes that exhibit antiproliferative activity against several tumor cell types. These findings further validate ubiquitin ligases as potential targets for cancer therapy.
These new targets for potential oncology therapeutics come out of Rigel's novel approach to drug discovery. The company uses advanced genomics technologies to identify protein targets that have a significant and demonstrable role in a disease pathway. By understanding the disease pathway, Rigel focuses on the subset of proteins that are specifically implicated in the disease process rather than studying proteins that are not likely to make good drug targets.
The normal life cycle of a cell involves positive regulators that enhance the function of a particular protein, and negative regulators that downgrade or eliminate the function. In the case of cancer, the normal checks and balances in cell replication break down, causing cells to divide unchecked. The goal is to identify those regulators that affect cell arrest. These regulators can fall into two categories: those that play a role in active cell arrest and those that interfere with pathways that block cell arrest. The research announced by Rigel at AACR identified both types of regulators, helping to open multiple avenues for potential drug development. |
