Peter, who in your opinion has some near or even longer term prospects in prostate ca? I know DNDN has partnered with DNA on a Trp channel that they call trp-p8. Very interesting family of proteins. Below is an abstract of their initial paper.
Trp-p8, a novel prostate-specific gene, is up-regulated in prostate cancer and other malignancies and shares high homology with transient receptor potential calcium channel proteins.
Tsavaler L, Shapero MH, Morkowski S, Laus R.
Dendreon Corporation, Seattle, Washington 98121, USA.
We have identified and cloned a novel gene, trp-p8, by screening a prostate-specific subtracted cDNA library. The 5694-bp cDNA has a 3312-bp open reading frame, which codes for a 1104 amino acid putative protein with seven transmembrane domains. The predicted protein revealed significant homology with the transient receptor potential (trp) family of Ca(2+) channel proteins. Northern blot analysis indicated that trp-p8 expression within normal human tissues is mostly restricted to prostate epithelial cells. In situ hybridization analysis showed that trp-p8 mRNA expression was at moderate levels in normal prostate tissue and appears to be elevated in prostate cancer. Notably, trp-p8 mRNA was also expressed in a number of nonprostatic primary tumors of breast, colon, lung, and skin origin, whereas transcripts encoding trp-p8 were hardly detected or not detected in the corresponding normal human tissues.
Here is the link to a PRs on the DNA collaboration as well as on Provenge, their investigational therapeutic cancer vaccine:
investor.dendreon.com
Jim |
