A research paper resulting from a joint venture between Tekmira Pharmaceuticals and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has appeared in Oncogene.
The paper titled, “Molecular targeting of CSN5 in human hepatocellular carcinoma: a mechanism of therapeutic response,’ tables pre-clinical information on treatment of liver cancer with small interfering RNA (siRNA) that is integrated by the company’s lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery technology.
The joint venture has created siRNA to destroy the CSN5 gene, which would enable treatment of cancers such as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The development shows that CSN5 targeted by siRNA prevents cell-cycle progression and enhances the apoptosis rate (programmed cell death) in HCC cells.
Gene expression data indicates that CSN5 impacts HCC pathogenesis and microarray examination to show that CSN5 could detect malignant conversion of HCC.
The paper reports that clinical trials showed that maximized siRNA against CSN5 caused 80% reticence of tumor cell growth in vitro, and systemic siRNA delivery using LNP technology caused lower tumor growth in a simulated human liver cancer.
Over-expression of CSN5 was revealed in cancers such as breast cancer, thyroid, skin cancer, ovarian, lung and pancreatic cancers. HCC is a lethal cancer, leading to about 600,000 deaths a year.
The company’s oncology solution TKM-PLK1 is presently in a Phase 1 of human laboratory tests taking place at three centers in the United States.
Source: http://www.tekmirapharm.com