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Biotech / Medical : VD's Model Portfolio & Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rocketman who wrote (5688)	9/29/1998 1:51:00 PM
From: mike head	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9719

To all and anybody. I'll stick this Chiroscience PLC news release here, since the implications are mind blowing... pax et bonum, mch Chiroscience Announces Discovery of Gene That Activates Human Autoimmune System -- Provides Novel Target for Drug Discovery SEATTLE and CAMBRIDGE, England (BUSINESS WIRE) - Sept. 29, 1998--Chiroscience Group plc (LSE: CRO) announced today the discovery of a gene that is responsible for the control of an immune response. The gene has been discovered in both mice and humans, and the gene product regulates the activity of CD4 T-cells, a cell-type central to many immune responses. The company has filed patents for the gene, which provides a novel, proprietary target for drug discovery for a number of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, as well as cancer. The announcement was made today in London during the company's Research and Development Update. "We have validated that this gene is a virtual 'off/on switch' for the immune system," said Robert Jackson, PhD, Chiroscience Director of Research, "and, depending on the disease, there are times when we need to turn the system off, and times when we need to turn it on. We now have a new pathway to use in the discovery and development of drugs for unmet medical need." Diseases in which the immune system must be turned down include rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, psoriasis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and allergy. Diseases in which the immune system should be increased include cancer and AIDS. Chiroscience researchers studied a unique strain of mice to isolate the gene that causes a lethal, progressive autoimmune disease in that population. A defect in this gene results in such a severe effect that it would be difficult to identify in man without the prior identification in mice. Company researchers cloned the gene this year and went on to identify the corresponding human gene. Chiroscience researchers are now studying the human gene's mechanism of action to determine methods to activate or inhibit immune responses.