Gene therapy progress: Senesco

Senesco Technologies, Inc. today announced results from the Company's funded research agreement at Mayo Clinic. Using human multiple myeloma cells grown in vitro, the data show that the Company's proprietary Factor 5A gene technology causes these cancer cells to die, thereby leaving fewer viable cancer cells in comparison to untreated samples.

Multiple myeloma is a type of bone marrow cancer that produces high levels of inflammatory cytokines which can lead to bone lesions and tumor progression. In this study, human multiple myeloma cells were grown in the presence of IL-6, a cytokine that acts as a growth factor for the myeloma cells. The aim of the study was to show that Senesco's technology could induce these dividing myeloma cells to die. Approximately 90% of the cancer cells treated with Factor 5A died, in comparison to approximately 25% of the untreated cells.

Richard Dondero, Vice President of Research and Development at Senesco, commented, "This early-stage study has shown that Factor 5A is not only able to kill myeloma cells, but also eliminate myeloma cells in the presence of IL-6. This latter finding is of interest in that it has proven to be very difficult to induce apoptosis in myeloma cells in the presence of IL-6 with standard therapies such as dexamethasone."

Based on these in vitro results, the Company and Mayo Clinic plan to determine the efficacy of Factor 5A in a multiple myeloma animal model. The animal model is an important next step in determining Factor 5A's potential ability to affect this disease.

Source: www.senesco.com