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Biotech / Medical : Ligand (LGND) Breakout! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: WTDEC who wrote (29017)	6/30/1999 2:27:00 PM
From: Harrison Hickman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32384

Attn all fish in Lake Ligand: NEW YORK — By linking a toxic molecule to a protein that binds to Kaposi's sarcoma cells, researchers have discovered a way to eradicate Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) tumors in mice. The toxic molecule may someday be used to treat humans with Kaposi's sarcoma, a potentially life-threatening tumor that is the most common cancer to occur in HIV-infected individuals. However, many barriers remain before such a treatment could be used in humans, although the results are "encouraging," according to Dr. Enrique A. Mesri of the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City. Effectively targeting cancer cells while leaving healthy cells untouched is an ongoing challenge with this type of treatment, Mesri points out in an editorial accompanying the study in the July issue of Nature Medicine. According to the report, Dr. Syed R. Husain of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research in Bethesda, Maryland, exploited the fact that Kaposi's sarcoma cells bind strongly to interleukin-4 (IL-4), an immune system-signaling molecule. The researchers created a molecule combining IL-4 and a toxin isolated from Pseudomonas bacteria. When mice are injected with Kaposi's sarcoma cells, they developed tumors. But injections of the IL-4 toxin caused the tumors to regress significantly or disappear. However, the investigators note that at the highest intravenous dose, the toxin was often fatal, killing 3 of 6 mice after two injections. They found that injecting the toxin directly into the tumor was safer, leading to less than 0.2% of the toxin spreading to the rest of the body. People with AIDS and Kaposi's sarcoma may benefit from treatment with the IL-4 toxin, known as IL-4 (38-37) PE38KDEL, the authors conclude. "Therefore, we are considering initiating a phase I clinical trial of IL-4 toxin for the treatment of aggressive AIDS-KS," Husain and colleagues write. SOURCE: Nature Medicine 1999;5:738-739, 817-822.