ILLKIRCH CEDEX, France, December 9 /PRNewswire/ -- A medical team directed by Dr. Patricia Ohana of the University of Jerusalem has achieved the almost total disappearance of cancerous cells in vivo using gene therapy in a clinical test carried out on two patients.
The team used a toxic gene that led to the destruction of the cancerous cells without damage to the surrounding cells. In order to introduce the gene effectively into the cancerous cells, the team used the in vivo jetPEITM reagent from Polyplus-transfection.
The study presenting the results of this expriment was published in June 2004 in the journal Gene Therapy and Molecular Biology.
Gene therapy no longer has a very good reputation. A decade of rash optimism has finally discouraged many pharmaceutical companies. However, when used appropriately, gene transfer can efficiently correct a fatal deficit of the immune system, as a team from the Necker Hospital in Paris showed in 2001. Today, in the same way, success has been achieved by the clever combination of an efficacious non-immunogenic vector and a disease that can be treated by intravesical injection.
This experiment proves that, thanks to the use of PEI, repeat treatments can be used to combat chronique diseases such as cancer. These treatments are complementary to surgery and chemo- and radiotherapies.
Gene transfer technology developed by Polyplus-transfection
Genes can be transferred into a patient’s cells using a virus or a chemical vector.
Polyplus-transfection has developed the second of these methods. Using a totally new process of osmotic swelling, the polymer polyethylenimine (PEI) is a particularly effective way of introducing genes and oligonucleotides into cells.
Although viruses are generally an effective way of transferring genes, this method encounters problemes with safety and immune reactions.
PEI technology, on the contrary, causes no side effects, and so allows repeat injections for more effective treatment.
An American team is carrying out other experiments at present on AIDS, and a hospital team from Toulouse in France is working on pancreatic cancer.
A competitive market
Several biotechnology companies are competing in this area of research. Polyplus-transfection stands alone in its global approach to the vectorisation of nucleic acids, both in vitro and in vivo. Most notably, it is a world leader in in vivo gene transfer using non-viral vectors.
Polyplus-transfection is also one of the few companies in its field to have received the ISO 9001 version 2000 certificate.
Polyplus-transfection, a key player in biomolecular vectorisation.
Polyplus-transfection was created in 2001 for the exploitation of the exclusive license relating to discoveries made by the Genetic Chemistry Laboratory of the Louis Pasteur University in Strasburg.
Having recently raised 2.6 million euros, the company has already achieved a turnover of 750 000 euros in 2003.
The jetPEITM and its derivatives for gene transfer are only part of the range of Polyplus-transfection products, which also includes internally developed vectors for RNA transfer (RNA interference). This RNA transfer technology opens up new horizons in screening products for the many targets revealed by human genome sequencing.
Web: http://www.polyplus-transfection.com/
Polyplus-transfection SAS
CONTACT: Contacts: Joelle Bloch, President, CEO or Anne-Lise Monjanel,Managing Director - Polyplus-transfection SAS, BIOPARC,Boulevard Sebastien Brant, BP 90018, 67401 ILLKIRCH CEDEXFrance. Phone: +33-(0)3-90-40-61-80, Fax: +33-(0)3-90-40-61-81,Email: info@polyplus-transfection.com
