Lorus Therapeutics announces the allowance of a United States patent to protect novel anticancer agents

21-Aug-2006

Lorus Therapeutics Inc. announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, GeneSense Technologies Inc., has been allowed a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for antisense oligonucleotides directed towards the novel cancer target neuropilin, and provided an update on a financing agreement.

The patent, titled "Neuropilin antisense oligonucleotide sequences and methods of using same to modulate cell growth", protects a series of antisense molecules that specifically bind to and decrease neuropilin target RNA in cells. The patent also protects the use of these antisense agents in the treatment of various forms of human cancer, including lung, colon, prostate, and breast cancers.

Included in the patent is Lorus' lead neuropilin antisense drug GTI-3611. In preclinical studies, GTI-3611 significantly inhibited growth of several cancer types, and markedly reduced the number of lung tumors in a mouse model of metastatic human melanoma. Consistent with an antisense mechanism of action, high levels of neuropilin coding RNA found in cancer cells were substantially decreased following treatment with GTI-3611, as well as with other neuropilin antisense oligonucleotides listed in the patent.

Neuropilin is a coreceptor for a form of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which is a soluble protein that stimulates tumor growth and angiogenesis (growth of blood vessels, which support tumor growth). Neuropilin is expressed on tumor blood vessel cells as well as by multiple cancer types, including breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, and melanoma. This expression increases the binding of VEGF to tumor cells and has been shown to promote cancer cell growth and tumor progression.

https://www.bionity.com/en/news/57228/lorus-therapeutics-announces-the-allowance-of-a-united-states-patent-to-protect-novel-anticancer-agents.html