Telomerase technology: Good for a Nobel… and for Geron Corporation (GERN)
Today's Financial News - Posted October 6, 2009
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Yesterday, the winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine were announced: Jack Szostak, Elizabeth Blackburn, and Carol Greider. It was good news for them and great news for Geron Corporation (GERN).
By Laura Cadden, TodaysFinancialNews.com
Baltimore (TFN): The newest recipients of the Nobel Prize in Medicine are credited with the discovery of telomeres – one of the focuses of biotech research at Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) that may well provide a breakthrough in the treatment of cancer.
Telomeres (from the Greek telos or “end” and meros or “part”) are essentially DNA sequences that protect the double-strand breaks at the end of chromosomes. They are a like a “cap” that secures the genetic information and makes it easier for cell division.
If not for telomeres, the breaks would be repaired causing chromosome fusion and instability.
As we age, our cells replicate by dividing and the telomeres shorten. Eventually, when they are too short and can no longer divide, cell death results.
Telomeres are, in turn, controlled by an enzyme made of RNA subunits and protein called telomerase. Telomerase can, in fact, repair telomeres.
In normal healthy cells, the telomerase is present but not expressed. But in 90% of cancer cells, telomerase is active and is associated with capability for unlimited proliferation… or “immortality”… of those malignant cells.
If you can stop the telomerase from doing its job, you can, theoretically, stop the cancer from growing.
Telomere instability may be the key to cancer
Researchers are designing treatments that use enzyme inhibitors that specifically target tumor cells’ telomeres and allow them to shorten, ending their “immortality”.
| “There’s now good evidence that telomere dysfunction can actually lead to cancer.” – Dr. Elizabeth H. Blackburn |
The researchers at Geron Corporation have secured many patents related to this technology and is public company most directly focused on telomerase-oriented treatments.
Early indications from clinical trials of their telomerase inhibitors have been promising…
Geron’s drug GRN163L seeks to inhibit telomerase activity, thereby destabilizing and causing the death of the cancer cells.
Interim data presented in December of last year of a Phase I trial for patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma showed that GRN163L appears to inhibit telomerase in both the bulk myeloma fraction and the myeloma stem-cell-containing fraction in patients’ bone marrow. This was the first evidence of telomerase inhibition in humans by a telomerase-targeting drug.
Then there are the cancer vaccines…
The scientists at Geron created a telomerase cancer vaccine (GRNVAC1) that seeks to instruct a patient’s immune system, via autologous dendritic cells how to identify and attack cancer cells while sparing other, non-threatening cells. (Dendritic cells are the antigen-presenting leukocytes that initiate the primary immune response.)
They achieve this by introducing telomerase characteristics specific to cancer cells. An immune response then occurs when cells are found with those telomerase characteristics.
The company is currently conducting a Phase II trial for the treatment of Acute Myelogenous Leukemia.
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) entered has agreement with Geron for this technology and is currently conducting a Phase I clinical trial of its own vaccine version (V934/V935).
In another cancer vaccine variation (GRNVAC2), instead of isolating dendritic cells in each patient, Geron’s researchers are attempting to produce them from human embryonic stem cells.
This could act to prevent an immune response against an antigen by instructing the immune system to tolerate it. The process is called “tolerizing.”
Tolerized dendritic cells, given along with therapeutic cells from the same embryonic stem cell line, could avoid immune rejection.
Cancer treatment isn’t the only use for this technology
Late last year, Geron presented preclinical data on TAT2, a small molecule telomerase activator indicated that human CD8+ T-cells from HIV-infected donors exposed to TAT2 showed increased telomerase activity.
This in turn resulted in retardation of telomere shortening, increased T-cell proliferation, and enhanced critical antiviral functions against HIV-1.
Then there is the belief that telomerase-targeted technology could stop the aging process by delaying cell death.
The mind swirls with the possibilities.
A sea change — but in rough seas
For Geron investors, it hasn’t been smooth sailing. The company’s revolutionary treatments sometimes have unforeseen setbacks…
In January, Geron become the first company to get FDA clearance to proceed with human clinical trials with a human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-based therapy (GRNOPC1) for the treatment of sub acute spinal cord injury.
But in August, the FDA halted the trial due to the development of (non-malignant) cysts at the injection sites of animals that had received the treatment.
Obviously, the company is working feverishly to diagnosis and resolve the problem. But it’s had a significant impact on share price.
Yesterday and today, the press regarding the telomerase researchers has brought up Geron’s share price to around $6.60.
With the potential for telomerase technology, I recommend you consider picking up shares of Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) at or under $6.75.
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