Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Biotech / Medical : IMNR - Immune Response -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gao seng who wrote (1395)	8/12/1999 8:02:00 AM
From: Bob Walsh	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1510

News release: THE IMMUNE RESPONSE CORPORATION ANNOUNCES REMUNE CLINICAL TRIAL IN SOUTH AMERICA CARLSBAD, Calif., Aug 12, 1999 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The Immune Response Corporation (Nasdaq: IMNR) today announced its Latin American corporate partner, Roemmers Laboratory (formerly Viru-Tech), is conducting a REMUNE(TM) Phase 2 clinical trial in South America. This 28-week clinical trial is being conducted by GEMA (Grupo de Estudios Multicentricos en Argentina) at three clinical centers in Buenos Aires, Argentina under the direction of Dr. Pedro Cahn, a leading infectious disease expert in South America. "The urgency of an HIV treatment with the potential of enhancing a patient's immunity is based on the increasing number of drug failures and the possibility to treat large numbers of patients not taking drugs," said Dr. Cahn. This double-blind placebo-controlled trial is expected to enroll up to sixty patients and will examine the effect of REMUNE on HIV specific immune function and viral load in asymptomatic HIV-1 infected individuals. This is the first clinical trial conducted using REMUNE in South America, where an estimated 1.4 million people are infected with the HIV-1 virus. Other clinical trials currently being conducted outside the U.S. using REMUNE include a 243-patient Phase 2 trial being conducted in Spain to study viral load, CD4 levels and immune function, and a 300-patient Phase 2 trial with similar endpoints nearing completion in Thailand. Several smaller clinical trials are also being conducted in Europe and the United States in combination with other HIV therapies. A U.S. Phase 3 pivotal trial to be conducted in collaboration with Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Warner-Lambert Company, (NYSE: WLA), is expected to commence enrollment this quarter. The Immune Response Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company based in Carlsbad, California, developing immune-based therapies to induce specific T-cell responses for the treatment of HIV and autoimmune diseases. In addition, the Company is working on cancer vaccines and gene therapy.

To: gao seng who wrote (1395)	8/13/1999 7:30:00 PM
From: MJ	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1510

gao seng Haven't checked in for a long time, thought at one point IMNR was truly ready. Proved differently. The cancer virus for breast tweaks me to recall that 15 years or more ago I wrote to a major researcher in Texas who believed that Rheumatoid Arith. could possibly be caused by a virus and a genetic propensity. In our family my spouse was diagnosed with RA after we returned from a two year stint out of the country and we all came back very ill with allergic like symptoms. It was only a matter of eight months that the diagnosis was made for RA. Because my spouses mother was already deceased, the doctor could not use genetic material from both in his research and blood work in his research. In my mind I have always wondered about the viral possibility with RA and the genetic propensity for the particular virus. Just musings. mj

To: gao seng who wrote (1395)	9/7/1999 8:00:00 AM
From: gao seng	Respond to of 1510

Retrovirus Protein Segment Suddenly Seen As Important Researchers at Purdue University have identified the role of a protein segment that allows some cancer-causing viruses to latch onto and infect cells. Analysis of the protein segment -- which bears a striking resemblance to bee venom -- may increase scientists' understanding of how retroviruses and some other viruses enter cells. The work may also lead to new therapies aimed at thwarting such viruses. Retroviruses can cause tumors and leukemia in animals and humans. The AIDS virus also is a retrovirus. "The new data have important implications not only for the membrane fusion processes that lead to the entry of retroviruses and other viruses such as influenza viruses and the Ebola virus, but also to normal cellular processes such as fertilization of an egg by a sperm," says David Sanders, assistant professor in Purdue's Department of Biological Sciences. Working with doctoral student Gwen Taylor of Monaca, Pa., Sanders discovered the importance of an amino acid sequence that is part of a protein that was previously thought to be unassuming. Their study shows that this segment of the protein is essential for membrane fusion, and that changing just one amino acid in the sequence could eliminate fusion between the virus and its host. The findings, published in the September issue of Molecular Biology of the Cell, may lead to novel treatments to block the entry of retroviruses and other membrane-possessing viruses, Sanders says. Sanders studies the structure of proteins that stud the membrane surrounding a retrovirus. These proteins, called envelope proteins, allow the virus to bind to a host cell and promote the fusion of the virus and cell membranes. It is through this fusion process that the virus enters the cell. Though the process of cell fusion has long been recognized, the structure of these membrane-spanning proteins includes regions that were poorly understood, Sanders says. "The specific amino-acid sequence of these regions, for example, was not considered critical for viral fusion because, in looking across all the different types of viruses, there is a tremendous amount of variety in this region, indicating that the amino-acid sequence may be random," he says. Looking at a family of retroviruses that includes feline and human T-cell leukemia viruses, however, Sanders found that the membrane-spanning domain was not random, and, in fact, shared similarities with some other types of viruses. Using the Moloney murine leukemia virus as a model, Sanders and Taylor showed that by replacing part of the sequence they could eliminate membrane fusion, while having no effect on any other known function of the protein. "In fact, we showed that by changing just one amino acid, we could prevent fusion," Sanders says. "This is the first time that anyone has made a mutation in this region and seen this kind of effect." Their analysis of the protein also showed that the amino acid sequence in this region shares some important characteristics with the active agent of bee venom, which works by forming holes in membranes. "This is exactly what the bee venom and some other toxins look like," Sanders says. "And the way they work is to form a pore, or hole, in the membrane." The new findings suggest that this region of the retrovirus envelope protein may be forming a similar hole in the membrane of the host cell during the fusion process, Sanders says. These insights may point scientists toward new ways of thwarting viruses and help redefine scientific models of how membrane fusion occurs, Sanders says. The Moloney murine leukemia virus used in the study is related to the feline and human T-cell leukemia viruses and is the major retroviral agent used for gene therapy procedures. Funding for the study was provided by the National Institutes of Health, Purdue University Research Foundation and the Leukemia Research Foundation. - By Susan Gaidos