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 : Biotech Valuation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BulbaMan who wrote (23430)	4/10/2007 11:50:23 AM
From: keokalani'nui	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 52153

I've owned arius for years. (It was denied me as a contest entry in 2004 or 2005, before its tse listing). Don't have much to add; it's one of those dusty small investments I just can't ever seem to throw out with the semi-annual scrubbing. Over that time arius has substantially upgraded its partners and investors without an increase in value over than through dilution. Irv Weissman's m/s on reconsituting a tumor with only one (cancer) stem cell 2 years ago or so is fascinating. The STEM CELL investment story of 2005/6 is going to be in cancer anyway. Message 20894088

To: BulbaMan who wrote (23430)	4/10/2007 3:11:51 PM
From: Biomaven	Respond to of 52153

FWIW, here's a general review of CD44 in cancer that I found. As always, things seem complicated: 1: Crit Rev Clin Lab Sci. 2002 Nov;39(6):527-79. Links CD44 in cancer. * Naor D, * Nedvetzki S, * Golan I, * Melnik L, * Faitelson Y. The Lautenberg Center for General and Tumor Immunology, The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem 91120, Israel. naord@md2.huji.ac.il CD44 is a multistructural and multifunctional cell surface molecule involved in cell proliferation, cell differentiation, cell migration, angiogenesis, presentation of cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors to the corresponding receptors, and docking of proteases at the cell membrane, as well as in signaling for cell survival. All these biological properties are essential to the physiological activities of normal cells, but they are also associated with the pathologic activities of cancer cells. Experiments in animals have shown that targeting of CD44 by antibodies, antisense,and CD44-soluble proteins markedly reduces the malignant activities of various neoplasms, stressing the therapeutic potential of anti-CD44 agents. Furthermore, because alternative splicing and posttranslational modifications generate many different CD44 sequences, including, perhaps, tumor-specific sequences, the production of anti-CD44 tumor-specific agents may be a realistic therapeutic approach. However, in many cancers (renal cancer and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas are exceptions), a high level of CD44 expression is not always associated with an unfavorable outcome. On the contrary, in some neoplasms CD44 upregulation is associated with a favorable outcome. Even worse, in many cases different research grows analyzing the same neoplastic disease reached contradictory conclusions regarding the correlation between CD44 expression and disease prognosis, possibly due to differences in methodology. These problems must be resolved before applying anti-CD44 therapy to human cancers.