Pre clinical research paper published...
Momenta Pharmaceuticals Study Showing M402 Inhibits Tumor Metastasis in Multiple Murine Oncology Models Published in PLoS One
infolink
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 20, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:MNTA), a biotechnology company specializing in the characterization and engineering of complex mixture drugs, today announced that results from a preclinical study of its novel oncology drug candidate, M402, were published in the on-line edition of the journal PLoS ONE ( plosone.org ). PLoS One is the online edition of the scientific journal Public Library of Science. M402 is a heparan sulfate glycosaminoglycan (HSGAG) mimetic engineered from low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) to have potent activity against multiple factors involved in tumor angiogenesis, progression and metastasis while displaying highly reduced anticoagulant activity.
"Targeting heparan sulfate proteoglycans represents a novel strategy to treat multiple facets of cancer, as presented in the manuscript," commented Ganesh Venkataraman, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Momenta. "In this study we used our novel anti-cancer compound, M402, to inhibit pathways vital for the progression and metastasis of tumors in several murine models. The resulting data showed that M402, particularly in combination with chemotherapeutic agents, did in fact inhibit spontaneous tumor metastasis and outgrowth of established tumors," he concluded.
In this study, anti-tumor efficacy was first evaluated in an experimental murine melanoma metastasis model. The data indicated that a single dose of M402 administered prior to tumor inoculation significantly reduced tumor colonization in the lung in a dose-dependent manner, presumably due to inhibiting adhesion of circulating tumor cells to new metastatic sites. Based on these findings, the potential anti-tumor efficacy of M402 was then assessed for the ability to inhibit spontaneous metastasis in an orthotopic murine metastatic breast carcinoma model. In this model, M402 in combination with cisplatin was shown to significantly inhibit tumor cell metastasis to the lung compared to animals treated with cisplatin alone. Subsequent immunohistological analysis showed a decrease in microvessel density in both primary tumors and lung metastases in the M402 treated group, suggesting that anti-angiogenesis may contribute to the anti-tumor effect of M402.
About M402
M402 is a heparan sulfate glycosaminoglycan (HSGAG) mimetic engineered from low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) to have potent anti-metastatic properties and low anticoagulant activity. M402, the Company's second novel product candidate, is in preclinical development |
