Sangamo BioSciences Presents Scientific Advances at the 2002 Annual Meeting Of The American Society of Gene Therapy
RICHMOND, Calif., June 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: SGMO - News) announced today that Sangamo scientists and their collaborators have been selected to make six presentations and have been invited to chair two scientific sessions at the 5th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Gene Therapy to be held in Boston, Massachusetts, June 5-9, 2002.
"Our significant participation in this meeting reflects the strength of our science and our commitment to demonstrate to the scientific community and pharmaceutical industry the advantages and versatility of our technology. As these presentations will clearly show, we are making important progress in the development of a new and novel class of human therapeutics," said Dr. Carl Pabo, Sangamo's senior vice president and chief scientific officer.
The presentations will include an update on preclinical studies of Sangamo's lead zinc finger DNA binding protein transcription factor (ZFP TF) therapeutic comparing the quality of new vasculature generated using Sangamo's ZFP TF designed to up regulate the endogenous VEGF gene in a mouse model versus the effects of a cDNA encoding a single VEGF isoform (Abstract #436). These studies were carried out by Dr. Frank Giordano, MD of Yale University School of Medicine in collaboration with Sangamo scientists and sponsored by Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE: EW - News). The collaboration between Sangamo and Edwards Lifesciences, which began in 2000, was undertaken to develop new ZFP TF treatments for ischemic cardiovascular disease and peripheral vascular disease. By activating the naturally occurring VEGF gene, the companies intend to stimulate the growth of new blood vessels in patients afflicted with severe cardiovascular or peripheral vascular disease. Such new vessels could have the potential to bypass blocked arteries thereby improving blood flow to oxygen-starved tissues.
"The data that will be presented from these studies will highlight several important differential technical advantages of Sangamo's ZFP TF technology platform," said Dr. Pabo. "By activating the endogenous gene using an engineered ZFP TF we are producing all the natural isoforms of VEGF in the appropriate ratios to enable the generation of a new and healthy vasculature."
In another presentation (Abstract #435), Dr. Andreas Reik of Sangamo will also publicly discuss, for the first time, data from an ongoing collaboration between Sangamo and Onyx Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ONXX - News). This partnership combines the therapeutic anti-cancer adenovirus developed by Onyx with Sangamo's ZFP TF gene activation technology. The ability to specifically target cancer cells distinguishes the Onyx therapeutic virus from conventional therapies, which are limited by their toxicities to normal tissue. Onyx has taken their therapeutic virus through Phase I and II clinical studies and is currently evaluating it in Phase III trials for head and neck cancer. "The idea here is to give the virus, which selectively kills cancer cells, an added advantage," said Dr. Pabo. "Our new therapeutic approach is designed so that once the virus infects a tumor, it will express a ZFP TF capable of activating the endogenous gene encoding granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor or GM-CSF. This should lead to the stimulation of an active immune response against the patient's tumor specific antigens and potentiate an anti-tumor antibody response to metastatic cancer. The data that we will present show that we can stimulate the production of GM-CSF in a wide variety of tumor cell lines and in the presence of the replicating adenovirus."
Other presentations by Sangamo scientists will cover advances in inducible regulation of endogenous gene expression by ZFP TFs. In the first of these (Abstract #412), researchers describe the design of a retroviral delivery system that is used to introduce ZFP TFs into cell lines and enables the expression of the engineered transcription factor and the consequent regulation of its target endogenous gene to be induced by an exogenously administered drug. A second system has been developed (Abstract #510), that fuses a progesterone receptor ligand-binding domain directly to the ZFP TF to generate a protein whose gene-regulating activity can be induced by the addition of a progesterone analogue. These are the first data demonstrating a widened applicability of small molecule regulatory switches, enabling them to be used in the direct regulation of an endogenous gene.
In addition to the four presentations being made being made by Sangamo scientists, Dr. Kaye Spratt, Sangamo's director of delivery technology will co-chair an oral presentation session "Regulated Gene Expression: Novel Technologies" (OA339). Sangamo's collaborator Dr. Giordano will also be presenting at an educational session on cardiovascular gene transfer (ES122), a workshop "Regulating Gene Transfer for Cardiovascular Disease" (WS217) and at the cardiovascular oral presentation session he will co-chair. (OA337).
"Gene transfer technology platforms continue to mature and Sangamo is in a unique position to develop novel and proprietary genes in the form of engineered transcription factors capable of regulating any therapeutically relevant gene. The ASGT meeting provides an excellent forum to present our important progress over the past year," concluded Dr. Pabo.
More detailed information on each of these presentations will be provided on the day the data are released at the meeting... |
