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Biotech / Medical : Ligand (LGND) Breakout! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: dwc who wrote (16319)	3/3/1998 12:54:00 PM
From: Henry Niman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32384

Maybe a brief, non-technical review would be in order. The gene of interest was identified in the mid 80's. It is similar to a well studied receptor for a growth factor. The history actually may be of interest to investors. The well studied growth factor is called the Epidemal Growth Factor (EGF). One of the reason it was interesting was due to its capture by an oncogenic virus (erythroblastosis virus). Of interest was the fact that the same virus captured another gene that was a mutated version of the thyroid hormone receptor. I was studying oncogenes and Ron Evans was studying IRs and the two avenues of research interested via this virus, which contained the erb A and erb B genes. Scientists at GNE used the erb B gene to find a human equivalent. While looking, they initially found two genes and determined that one was EGF (which they called HER for Human EGF Receptor) and the related one was called HER2 (subsequently a HER3 and HER4 were found). At the same time, another group has looking at rat DNA that was found in neuroblastomas. The cancer gene was called neu (because of the association with neuroblastomas), and it was the rat version of HER2, so the gene is frequently called HER2/neu. Dennis Slamon at UCLA was looking for alterations in human breast tumors. He found that a subset (about 30%) contained multiple copies of HER2. He also found a correlation with a poor prognosis, although the correlation is somewhat controversial. As similar poor prognosis correlation was found for ovarian cancer. GNE scientists then made a monclononal antibody to the HER2 gene product (the growth factor recepetor) and I think that Phase III trials began in 1995. Since the antibody targets HER2, only patients whose tumor contains multiple copies for HERs are candidates for the treatment. Not all patients who have amplified HER2 have a poor prognosis, and not all amplified tumors respond to the treatment.