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 : GZMO -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: biowa who wrote (132)	10/19/1999 12:23:00 PM
From: jeffbas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 438

Here is the article link: fkpi.com I also am interested in your reaction Rick. A more general question is how the heck does an average investor have any idea if what sounds like a competitive approach really is or not? Is there any way other than being a microbiology scientist? A more general question is whether a person without such expertise has any business in any biotech investment other than first tier? I am starting to wonder.

To: biowa who wrote (132)	10/19/1999 12:51:00 PM
From: scaram(o)uche	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 438

Biowa: No, hadn't seen it, but I was aware of Therion and the tyrosinase program. There are lots of reasons to be enthusiastic about the long-term efforts at GZMO (including two-antigen attack for melanoma, IMO), but, again, I'm here for the ATIII. Here's work, about two year old work, from Rosenberg and collaborators addressing all three antigens........ J Immunother 1998 Jan;21(1):27-31 Comparative analysis of the in vivo expression of tyrosinase, MART-1/Melan-A, and gp100 in metastatic melanoma lesions: implications for immunotherapy. Cormier JN, Abati A, Fetsch P, Hijazi YM, Rosenberg SA, Marincola FM, Topalian SL Surgery Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. A variety of human melanoma-associated antigens (MAA) have been identified that can be recognized by T lymphocytes in a major histocompatibility complex-restricted fashion. Among them, tyrosinase, MART-1/Melan- A, and gp100 are derived from nonmutated melanocyte lineage-specific antigens (Ag). These Ag can be recognized by CD8+ and, in the case of tyrosinase, CD4+ T cells. The in situ expression of these MAA may be a significant cofactor in determining the recognition of melanoma targets by Ag-specific T cells. In this study, we examined the patterns of expression of these MAA using immunohistochemical methods on 30 metastatic tumor deposits derived from 25 patients. MAA expression was heterogeneous among the 30 specimens and also within individual lesions. Of note, 23% of the samples examined failed to express the gp100 protein, and 17% of samples had no detectable expression of MART-1. In contrast, all lesions demonstrated some degree of tyrosinase expression even in cases where both gp100 and MART-1 were not detectable. In addition, 60% of samples (18 of 30) showed strong positivity for tyrosinase (> 75% of cells staining) compared with 40% for gp100 and 36% for MART-1. Currently, a number of experimental immunotherapies for melanoma are directed against the MAA tyrosinase, MART-1, and gp100. Although threshold levels of Ag required for T-cell recognition have not yet been defined, tumor-associated Ag expressed in high density, such as tyrosinase, may be better targets for future immunotherapy trials.