Mirna Therapeutics Reports Notice of Allowance from USPTO Related to the Clinical Application of an Important Cancer-Related miRNA
AUSTIN, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Mirna Therapeutics, Inc. announced today that the USPTO has allowed claims related to the therapeutic application of let-7 in the regulation of oncogenes. The claims derive from a patent application that was submitted by Yale University and exclusively licensed to Mirna related to the pioneering work of Dr. Frank Slack, Professor of Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology at Yale University in New Haven, CT. Let-7 was the first miRNA that was demonstrated to function as a tumor suppressor via its ability to regulate oncogene expression.
“This allowance from the USPTO provides further evidence of the critical position that the Company holds in the burgeoning field of miRNA-based therapies.”
During an extended collaboration, scientists at Mirna and Yale have shown that let-7 regulates multiple cancer-related genes and pathways, influences the sensitivity of cancer cells to radiation and chemotherapy, and affects tumor development. Using transgenic and xenograft mouse models of cancer, the two labs have demonstrated that therapeutic candidates featuring the let-7 sequence significantly inhibit tumor development and growth. Additional studies have shown that the altered expression of let-7 is important in cancer stem cell development and that the miRNA can inhibit metastasis. (Read the entire release… )
More about let-7 and Cancer
Trang P, Medina PP, Wiggins JF, Ruffino L, Kelnar K, Omotola M, Homer R, Brown D, Bader AG, Weidhaas JB, Slack FJ. (2010) Regression of murine lung tumors by the let-7 microRNA. Oncogene 29(11), 1580-7. [abstract]
Slack F. (2009) let-7 microRNA reduces tumor growth. Cell Cycle 8(12), 1823. [abstract]
Ding XC, Slack FJ, Grosshans H. (2008) The let-7 microRNA interfaces extensively with the translation machinery to regulate cell differentiation. Cell Cycle 7(19), 3083-90. [abstract]
Büssing I, Slack FJ, Grosshans H. (2008) let-7 microRNAs in development, stem cells and cancer. Trends Mol Med 14(9), 400-09. [abstract]
Esquela-Kerscher A, Trang P, Wiggins JF, Patrawala L, Cheng A, Ford L, Weidhaas JB, Brown D, Bader AG, Slack FJ. (2008) The let-7 microRNA reduces tumor growth in mouse models of lung cancer. Cell Cycle 7(6), 759-64. [abstract]
Johnson CD, Esquela-Kerscher A, Stefani G, Byrom M, Kelnar K, Ovcharenko D, Wilson M, Wang X, Shelton J, Shingara J, Chin L, Brown D, Slack FJ. (2007) The let-7 microRNA represses cell proliferation pathways in human cells. Cancer Res 67(16), 7713-22. [abstract]
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