WALTHAM, Mass., April 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. , the world leader in serving science, today announced that the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center has made a groundbreaking discovery using the company’s Dharmacon RNA-interference reagents, marketed under the Thermo Scientific brand. Dr. Michael White, professor of cell biology at UT Southwestern, and his team have identified 87 genes that appear to affect the susceptibility of human cancer cells to certain chemotherapy drug treatments.
RNA interference (RNAi) is a mechanism of gene regulation in which double- stranded RNA can “silence” a gene by eliminating the messenger RNA (mRNA) corresponding to that gene. Dr. White used the Dharmacon siARRAY(R) Whole Human-Genome collection of SMARTpool small-interfering RNA molecules, which target the entire human genome of more than 21,000 individual genes, to block the action of specific genes in isolated lung cancer cells. He found that when certain genes were silenced, the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel (Taxol) was dramatically more effective in destroying the cancer cells. Dr. White’s study appears in the April 12 edition of the leading science journal, Nature.
This discovery could lead to the development of new drugs that target the protein products of the genes identified by Dr. White’s team and enhance the effectiveness of current cancer therapies. The eventual result could be new combination therapies that lower the dose of chemotherapy, reducing its debilitating side effects.
“We are very pleased to have provided Dr. White and his team with our unique genome-wide collection of highly effective siRNAs,” said William S. Marshall, Ph.D., vice president of technology and business development for biosciences at Thermo Fisher Scientific. “Dr. White’s seminal work reported in Nature is an example of paradigm-shifting technology applied to a significant medical problem.”
The Dharmacon siARRAY library enabled Dr. White’s discovery because it allows scientists to quickly test how cells react when specific genes are silenced. This high-throughput technique employs small-interfering RNA (siRNA), the active intermediate in the RNAi mechanism. Dr. White and his team treated human non-small-cell lung cancer cells with siRNAs targeting each gene in the human genome and monitored survival in the presence or absence of the drug paclitaxel. They identified 87 different genes that, when inhibited, caused the cancer cells to be up to 10,000 times more sensitive to paclitaxel. Additional research will be needed to determine whether blocking the genes in pre-clinical and clinical studies has the same effect.
“Being able to do this in human cells - and being able to do it fast - is very powerful,” Dr. White said. “The idea of the screen was to take advantage of new-generation technology to silence any gene we want. That’s the power of a genome-wide screen - you go in without any expectations and let the data tell you what’s important. We were very impressed by the potency and robustness of the Dharmacon siRNA collection, which is vital in enabling such large-scale screening efforts.”
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center is a member of the RNAi Global Initiative founded by the RNA Technologies product team within Thermo Fisher Scientific. An alliance comprising 20 renowned not-for-profit biomedical research institutions from North America, Europe and Asia, the initiative provides a forum for members to share research protocols, establish experimental standards and develop mechanisms for exchanging and comparing screening data. UT Southwestern is the first institution to publish a human genome-wide study using the Dharmacon siRNA library.
“Dr. White is a founding member of the RNAi Global Initiative and the first to receive the whole genome siRNA collection,” said Marshall. “Our goal in establishing the initiative was to combine the power of genome-wide RNAi- based screening with the collaboration of leading research institutions to accelerate biological and medical discovery. Dr. White has been a leader in our efforts.”
About Thermo Fisher Scientific
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is the world leader in serving science, enabling our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. With an annual revenue rate of more than $9 billion, we employ 30,000 people and serve over 350,000 customers within pharmaceutical and biotech companies, hospitals and clinical diagnostic labs, universities, research institutions and government agencies, as well as environmental and industrial process control settings. Serving customers through two premier brands, Thermo Scientific and Fisher Scientific, we help solve analytical challenges from routine testing to complex research and discovery. Thermo Scientific offers customers a complete range of high-end analytical instruments as well as laboratory equipment, software, services, consumables and reagents to enable integrated laboratory workflow solutions. Fisher Scientific provides a complete portfolio of laboratory equipment, chemicals, supplies and services used in healthcare, scientific research, safety and education. Together, we offer the most convenient purchasing options to customers and continuously advance our technologies to accelerate the pace of scientific discovery, enhance value for customers and fuel growth for shareholders and employees alike. Visit http://www.thermofisher.com .
About the Genome-wide RNAi Global Initiative
The Genome-Wide RNAi Global Initiative is an alliance of leading international biomedical researchers, established to increase and accelerate the utility of human genome-wide siRNA libraries. The RNAi Global Initiative provides a forum for member institutions to share research protocols, establish experimental standards and develop mechanisms for exchanging and comparing screening data. Membership is open to not-for-profit biomedical research institutions across North America, Europe and Asia. The RNAi Global Initiative is being coordinated under the auspices of the RNA Technologies product team within Thermo Fisher Scientific. Its members include the Campbell Family Institute for Breast Cancer Research at Princess Margaret Hospital and Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital, both with The University of Toronto; Cancer Research UK (CRUK) at the London Research Institute and the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR); The German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ); Eppley Cancer Center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center; Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI); The Scottish Centre for Genomic Technology and Informatics based at the University of Edinburgh Medical School (GTI); the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; Yale University; the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center; the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research and MRC Cancer Cell Unit; Fox Chase Cancer Center; Harvard Medical School; Stanford University School of Medicine; British Columbia Cancer Research Centre; Trinity College, Dublin; the Vrije University Medical Center; Weizmann Institute of Science; University of Dundee School of Medicine; the Institute Pasteur Korea; and the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, a member of A*Star Biomedical Sciences Institutes in Singapore.
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Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.
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