Introgen is making some comments on its INGN241 (I always liked INGN241 more than ADVEXIN <g> )They will be presenting this week at the AACR meeting and next month with Exhibits at ASCO.
Bernard
Introgen Therapeutics, Inc. (ticker: ingn, exchange: NASDAQ Stock Exchange (.O)) News Release - 4/18/05
Introgen's Tumor Suppressor INGN 241 Highlighted With Six Presentations at American Association of Cancer Research Annual Meeting
INGN 241 Exhibits Multiple Cancer Fighting Properties: Tumor Growth Suppression, Cancer Vaccine and Anti-Angiogenic Properties Show Promise
AUSTIN, Texas, April 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Introgen Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: INGN) today announced the presentation of data from multiple studies of the tumor suppressor INGN 241, documenting the Company's ongoing progress in evaluating the multiple anti-cancer activities of this novel investigational therapy.
INGN 241, adenoviral-mda-7, is currently being evaluated in a Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with malignant melanoma. The data, which will be presented this week in six separate presentations at the American Association of Cancer Research 96th Annual Meeting (AACR) in Anaheim, California, underscore the broad and growing potential of INGN 241 in a variety of cancers.
The presentations illustrate the activity of INGN 241 when used as a monotherapy, as part of combination regimens, as an anti- angiogenic agent and as an immunotherapy.
"As we advance the clinical development of INGN 241, we continue to evaluate its multiple anti-cancer activities in a variety of preclinical models of cancer," said Sunil Chada, Ph.D., Introgen's associate vice president, clinical research.
"The various abstracts presented at this conference demonstrate how targeted molecular cancer therapies can address the disease process through a variety of biologically and clinically relevant molecular pathways."
Abstract #3876 highlights a novel mechanism by which INGN 241 inhibits the formation of new blood vessels (angiogenesis) needed to support tumor growth.
Previous studies have shown that INGN 241 inhibits the formation of blood vessels supplying tumors by blocking production of the cells that cause the development of the new blood vessels.
The data presented at AACR demonstrate that INGN 241 also inhibits the production of VEGF protein, a potent and upstream inducer of angiogenesis, within lung cancer cells. INGN 241 thus inhibits tumor angiogenesis, a key requirement for tumor growth through two distinct mechanisms.
Current approaches to anti-angiogenic cancer therapies focus on inhibiting the ability of blood vessel growth factors, such as VEGF, to bind to their receptors on blood vessels, thus blocking production of new vessels.
In addition to this activity, INGN 241 appears to elicit anti-angiogenic effects much further upstream in this process, by blocking production of VEGF protein.
Data from another series of studies (Abstract #5996) demonstrate that administration of INGN 241 results in the development of systemic immune responses against tumor cells and suggest that INGN 241 could be used as a novel cancer vaccine.
In preclinical studies, implantation of INGN 241- treated tumor cells into mice resulted in a significant inhibition of tumor growth.
Significantly, mice that were immunized with INGN 241-treated cells showed inhibition of tumor growth after a subsequent challenge with additional tumor cells.
The data suggest that administration of INGN 241 induces systemic immunity that can inhibit tumor growth.
Dr. Chada continued, "We currently are conducting clinical studies of INGN 225, a cancer vaccine that utilizes p53, the active component of ADVEXIN.
Our data suggest that a vaccine utilizing mda-7, the active component of INGN 241, may also have therapeutic benefit. We continue to expand our understanding of the immune stimulating, anti-angiogenic and growth inhibition activities of INGN 241 through ongoing preclinical studies such as those presented at this conference, and at the FASEB conference earlier this month. Such studies provide us with important data that help to drive the clinical development of INGN 241 toward commercialization."
Other highlights of INGN 241 preclinical data presented at AACR include:
* Efficacy as a monotherapy in models of ovarian cancer (Abstract #5026)
* Efficacy in combination with novel investigational classes of chemotherapy (Abstract #1349 and Abstract #2014)
* Mechanisms of anti-cancer activity in breast cancer (Abstract #3694)
Researchers at Introgen and The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center collaborated on the studies presented at the conference.
The mda-7 gene was discovered by the laboratory of Dr. Paul B. Fisher, professor of clinical pathology and the Michael and Stella Chernow Urological Cancer Research Scientist in the Departments of Neurological Surgery, Pathology and Urology at Columbia University. Introgen holds an exclusive worldwide license for all gene therapy applications from the Corixa Corporation.
Introgen holds a licensing agreement with M.D. Anderson to commercialize products based on licensed technologies, and has the option to license future technologies under sponsored research agreements. The University of Texas Board of Regents own stock in Introgen.
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