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Sidney Kimmel
Researchers Discover Method Of ID'ing Drug Targets
A new method of identifying
targets for the delivery of potentially life-saving
therapeutics to specific parts of the body has been
discovered by researchers at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer
Center (SKCC) in San Diego. The details of this
immunotargeting research are being published Jan. 10 in
the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences.
Led by Jan Schnitzer, M.D., SKCC
researchers discovered a method for more effectively
identifying agents that target protein molecules in
blood vessels, thus significantly broadening the
potential for treating cancer and other
diseases.
Their findings are described
in an article titled “Screening phage display libraries
for organ-specific vascular immunotargeting in vivo.”
The article is now published online at the PNAS Web
site: www.pnas.org.
The study shows that protein
targets in tissue blood vessels can now be identified in
vivo; that is, in living tissue. This is a critical
distinction, because targets were previously identified
ex vivo; that is, in cells grown in a cell culture. The
potential benefit for patients is that these discoveries
may allow directed delivery of many therapeutics -
including biologics, pharmaceuticals, gene vectors and
nanomedicines - to specific tissue, such as cancer
tumors, without endangering normal tissue.
This research was supported
by grants from the National Cancer Institute and the
National Heart Lung and Blood Institute at the National
Institutes of Health.
Deisseroth
Elected President of International Cancer
Society
The president and CEO of San
Diego’s Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center (SKCC) has been
elected president of a prestigious international society
of cancer researchers and clinicians.
Dr. Albert Deisseroth was
elected by his peers to the top post of the
International Society of Cancer Gene and Cell Therapy
(ISCGT), which held its annual meeting in Shenzhen,
China, in mid-December. His one-year term as president
begins April 1, 2006.
The ISCGT will meet next in
October 2006 in Tokyo, Japan. The organization fosters
camaraderie and scientific collaboration between
scientists and clinicians around the world in cell and
gene therapies of cancer.