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 : Regeneron Pharmaceuticals -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Miljenko Zuanic who wrote (258)	1/7/1999 2:51:00 AM
From: Miljenko Zuanic	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3557

So, what is your BDNF formulation Mr. Regeneron? From PNAS: Neuroprotection with noninvasive neurotrophin delivery to the brain (polyethylene glycol conjugation / blood-brain barrier / drug targeting / brain-derived neurotrophic factor) Dafang Wu and William M. Pardridge* Department of Medicine, University of California School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 90095 Communicated by M. Frederick Hawthorne, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, November 3, 1998 (received for review August 5, 1998) Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is neuroprotective in the ischemic hippocampus if the neurotrophin is injected directly into the brain. However, the efficacy of BDNF via peripheral (i.v.) administration is limited by the lack of transport of the neurotrophin through the brain capillary wall, which makes up the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in vivo. The present studies describe a molecular reformulation of BDNF that incorporates polyethylene glycol (PEG) moieties at surface carboxyl residues, to optimize plasma pharmacokinetics, and links pegylated BDNF to the OX26 mAb, which undergoes receptor-mediated transport through the BBB via the brain capillary endothelial transferrin receptor. The BDNF-PEG 2000-biotin conjugated to OX26/streptavidin was administered i.v. daily to rats for 1 week after a 12-min period of transient forebrain ischemia. The neuronal density in the CA1 sector of the hippocampus was decreased 68 ± 10% at 1 week after the ischemia. There was no neuroprotective effect of the unconjugated BDNF or unconjugated OX26 mAb. However, the hippocampal CA1 neuronal density was normalized by i.v. administration of the BDNF-PEG 2000-biotin conjugated to OX26/streptavidin. These studies demonstrate that peripherally administered BDNF may have neuroprotective effects in brain, if the neurotrophin is reformulated to (i) optimize plasma pharmacokinetics with carboxyl-directed pegylation, and (ii) enable transport through the BBB by coupling to brain transport vectors.

To: Miljenko Zuanic who wrote (258)	3/9/1999 1:26:00 AM
From: Miljenko Zuanic	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3557

Ops, it is Angio-4 (for humans): Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1999 Mar 2;96(5):1904-1909 Angiopoietins 3 and 4: Diverging gene counterparts in mice and humans. Valenzuela DM, Griffiths JA, Rojas J, Aldrich TH, Jones PF, Zhou H, McClain J, Copeland NG, Gilbert DJ, Jenkins NA, Huang T, Papadopoulos N, Maisonpierre PC, Davis S, Yancopoulos GD Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, NY 10591. [Record supplied by publisher] The angiopoietins have recently joined the members of the vascular endothelial growth factor family as the only known growth factors largely specific for vascular endothelium. The angiopoietins include a naturally occurring agonist, angiopoietin-1, as well as a naturally occurring antagonist, angiopoietin-2, both of which act by means of the Tie2 receptor. We now report our attempts to use homology-based cloning approaches to identify new members of the angiopoietin family. These efforts have led to the identification of two new angiopoietins, angiopoietin-3 in mouse and angiopoietin-4 in human; we have also identified several more distantly related sequences that do not seem to be true angiopoietins, in that they do not bind to the Tie receptors. Although angiopoietin-3 and angiopoietin-4 are strikingly more structurally diverged from each other than are the mouse and human versions of angiopoietin-1 and angiopoietin-2, they appear to represent the mouse and human counterparts of the same gene locus, as revealed in our chromosomal localization studies of all of the angiopoietins in mouse and human. The structural divergence of angiopoietin-3 and angiopoietin-4 appears to underlie diverging functions of these counterparts. Angiopoietin-3 and angiopoietin-4 have very different distributions in their respective species, and angiopoietin-3 appears to act as an antagonist, whereas angiopoietin-4 appears to function as an agonist.