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Biotech / Medical : Biotech Lock-Up Expiration Hell Portfolio -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jibacoa who wrote (689)	6/11/2002 9:22:41 AM
From: tuck	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1005

>>AUSTIN, Texas, June 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Introgen Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: INGN - News) and its collaborators at the Texas Heart Institute, The University of Texas-Houston and The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center presented preclinical results demonstrating the potential of Introgen's PTEN gene therapeutic to treat both vascular proliferative disorders and melanoma. INGN 251 delivers PTEN via an adenoviral vector. Study results were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Gene Therapy. In one study, INGN 251 inhibited the growth of animal smooth muscle cells by as much as 70 percent, suggesting that it may have the potential to help prevent arterial blockage (restenosis) that frequently occurs after angioplasty, stenting and bypass grafting in patients with cardiovascular disease and peripheral arterial disease. The migration and proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells is believed to play an integral role in vascular cell wall thickening and vascular obstruction. Data from another study showed that INGN 251 may also be a promising agent for the treatment of melanoma because of its cell-killing and anti-metastatic properties. Treatment of melanoma cells with INGN 251 resulted in apoptosis (programmed cell death) and inhibited the growth of the melanoma cells. Additionally, the spread of melanoma cells was inhibited in metastatic melanoma cells treated with INGN 251. Melanoma is an aggressive human cancer that metastasizes, or spreads, rapidly and responds poorly to conventional cancer therapies. INGN 251 is a gene therapy product candidate that produces high levels of the PTEN protein. PTEN is critical to a normal cell's growth control mechanisms and is frequently lost in a number of cancers due to a mutation of the PTEN gene and/or other mechanisms. The mutation of just one copy of the PTEN gene is believed to be enough to interrupt normal cell signaling function and begin the process of the uncontrolled cell growth associated with cancer and other disorders. Over-expression of the PTEN protein, as demonstrated in vitro by INGN 251, has been shown to selectively slow the growth of and cause increased death of numerous types of cancer cells, with minimal effects on normal cells.<< snip Cheers, Tuck