Athersys and Cleveland Clinic Foundation collaborate to discover and validate novel drug targets in important cell-signaling and disease pathways
Athersys Inc. and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (CCF) today announced the formation of a functional genomics collaboration to discover and functionally validate novel drug targets that play an important role in cancer and inflammation. Athersys scientists will work with researchers under the direction of Dr. George Stark, Chairman of the Lerner Research Institute at CCF, to rapidly and efficiently identify novel drug targets that regulate certain cell-signaling and disease pathways.
The development of drugs that target cell-signaling pathways is currently a primary area of focus for many pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies due to its potential to treat serious and debilitating diseases. Athersys has an exclusive option to commercialize novel therapeutics that result from the collaboration. Dr. John Harrington, executive vice president and chief scientific officer at Athersys, will discuss this collaboration today at the CHI Genome Tri-Conference in San Francisco.
Researchers at CCF will apply Athersys' RAGE (Random Activation of Gene Expression) technology as a method to decipher complex signaling pathways within human cells and identify and validate drug targets that regulate these pathways. RAGE is a proprietary technology that Athersys uses to create comprehensive, genome wide protein expression libraries for applications in functional genomics and proteomics. Since RAGE activated genes are tagged, researchers can correlate expression of a particular gene with a specific disease process.
"A critical challenge facing many pharmaceutical companies and leading academic research centers is the ability to rapidly and precisely identify functional drug targets and understand how they impact complex cellular signaling pathways," said Dr. Gil Van Bokkelen, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Athersys. "Our RAGE technology provides a way to survey the entire human genome in order to rapidly identify and functionally validate potential drug targets, accelerating the development of treatments for important diseases, making Athersys a leader in functional genomics. Athersys' strategy is to continue to establish collaborations with leading academic research centers, such as the Cleveland Clinic, as well as with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies."
Researchers at CCF and Athersys are working to identify novel regulators of pathways in cells for two important proteins, NF-kB, or Nuclear Factor-kappaB, and p53. Based on current understanding of the roles of these proteins in human biology, drugs that inhibit or activate specific targets in their pathways may provide new approaches in the treatment of a number of serious diseases, including cancer and inflammatory disorders. NF-kB is a transcription factor that is involved in a range of cellular phenomena, including inflammation, antigen presentation, immunity, cytokine production, apoptosis and cancer. P53 is a tumor suppressor protein that is mutated or inactivated in more than half of all human tumors. In the other half, it is postulated that components of p53 signaling pathways may be defective.
"My laboratory at the Lerner Research Institute at the Cleveland Clinic has been searching for novel suppressors for some time by applying the traditional method of introducing cDNA libraries into cells with constitutive activation of these pathways and then recovering specific cDNAs that suppress p53 or NF-kB expression. The problem with this approach is that it is still very difficult to get access to cDNAs from genes that are expressed in rare tissues, at very low levels or that are only expressed in response to certain stimuli," said Dr. George Stark. " By using RAGE to make genome wide protein expression libraries in our mutant cells, we hope to quickly and efficiently associate biological function with expression of a specific RAGE activated protein. This could be a great advance in our ability to further the understanding of cellular disease pathways."
Athersys is a functional genomics and biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development and application of novel research tools and therapeutic products. The Company's RAGE (Random Activation of Gene Expression) technology platform is a novel gene expression system that enables the Company to rapidly survey the entire human genome for proteins with a specific biological function and to quickly and accurately correlate protein function with gene structure. Athersys believes RAGE has powerful applications in functional genomics, generation of validated drug targets, development of protein therapeutics and gene discovery. The Company's SMC (Synthetic Microchromosome) technology platform enables the Company to create synthetic human chromosomes, which are being developed as a novel approach to gene therapy. Athersys is establishing a broad portfolio of proprietary technologies that positions the Company to develop therapeutic products, both internally and with strategic partners, to treat significant and life-threatening diseases. This press release and further information on Athersys, Inc. can be found on web at www.Athersys.com.
The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, founded in 1921, integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education in a private, non-profit group practice. Approximately 1,100 full-time salaried physicians at the Cleveland Clinic and Cleveland Clinic Florida, representing more than 100 medical specialties and subspecialties, provided care through more than 1.7 million outpatient visits and 50,000 hospital admissions in 1999 for patients from throughout the United States and more than 80 countries.
Source: Athersys Inc.