<<Normaly, REGN will wait until they complete PIII trial(s), and IF positive they will say: We have more potent candidate!>>
And maybe than, they may start to look at other candidates!
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Vol. 100, Issue 9, 5028-5033, April 29, 2003
Applied Biological Sciences
Inhibition of rat corneal angiogenesis by a nuclease-resistant RNA aptamer specific for angiopoietin-2
Rebekah R. White, Siqing Shan, Christopher P. Rusconi, Geetha Shetty§, Mark W. Dewhirst, Christopher D. Kontos§, and Bruce A. Sullenger,¶
Departments of Surgery, Radiation Oncology, and § Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 22710
Communicated by Jennifer A. Doudna, University of California, Berkeley, CA, and approved February 26, 2003 (received for review October 22, 2002)
Angiopoietin-2 (Ang2) appears to be a naturally occurring antagonist of the endothelial receptor tyrosine kinase Tie2, an important regulator of vascular stability. Destabilization of the endothelium by Ang2 is believed to potentiate the actions of proangiogenic growth factors. To investigate the specific role of Ang2 in the adult vasculature, we generated a nuclease-resistant RNA aptamer that binds and inhibits Ang2 but not the related Tie2 agonist, angiopoietin-1. Local delivery of this aptamer but not a partially scrambled mutant aptamer inhibited basic fibroblast growth factor-mediated neovascularization in the rat corneal micropocket angiogenesis assay. These in vivo data directly demonstrate that a specific inhibitor of Ang2 can act as an antiangiogenic agent. |
