To: Jibacoa who wrote (584 ) 11/20/2006 1:46:42 PM From: Jibacoa Read Replies (1) | Respond to This is the news that caused the spike in the stock price in the last few minutes:Introgen's Novel Nanoparticle Tumor Suppressor NPRL2 Shows Promise in the Treatment of Drug Resistant Cancers systemic treatment using NPRL2 nanoparticles in combination with cisplatin resulted in a 90 percent inhibition of tumor growth in human lung cancer cells compared to control treatments, reported Introgen Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: INGN - News). The NPRL2 gene, believed to be important in the genesis of multiple types of cancer, including lung cancer and renal cell cancer, is licensed to Introgen from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Preclinical studies evaluated the NPRL2 gene which demonstrated its ability to exhibit tumor suppressor activity against human lung cancer. low expression of NPRL2 was correlated with resistance to cisplatin, one of the mainstays of chemotherapy for lung cancer. In lung cancers that were resistant to cisplatin, re- introduction of the normal NPRL2 gene resulted in dramatic re-sensitization to cisplatin. A 90 percent inhibition of tumor growth was observed with systemic treatment using NPRL2 nanoparticles in combination with cisplatin, compared to control treatments. Thus, NPRL2 may serve as an important biomarker to identify and treat patients with tumors resistant to cisplatin chemotherapy.cancerwise.org . "The ability to use a simple biomarker assay for NPRL2 to identify patients who would not derive benefit from cisplatin represents an important advance and underscores the significance of NPRL2 in lung cancer. Development of NPRL2 gene drugs using systemic nanoparticle delivery may help patients whose tumors are resistant to cisplatin by re-sensitizing tumors to this commonly used therapy."Mutations in the 3p21 region of chromosome 3 are found in approximately 90 percent of small-lung cancer, more than 50 percent of non-small-lung cancer, as well as in renal, breast, pancreatic, oral and uterine cancers. Mutations in the 3p21 region of the genome are the earliest genetic abnormality currently detected in lung cancer, suggesting that one or more of these genes could act as "gatekeeper," preventing cells from becoming cancerous.
