Senesco: Gene technology may work on humans as study shows reduced inflammation in mice

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, May 12 - Senesco Technologies, Inc. announced Friday that the company's eukaryotic translation initiation Factor 5A-1 gene technology reduced inflammation and inhibited apoptosis in mouse experiments conducted by W. Michael Scheld at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.

In these experiments, mice were pre-treated with Senesco's small interfering RNA against Factor 5A-1 and then challenged with LPS, which causes a classic systemic inflammatory response, according to a company news release.

The Factor 5A-1 pre-treated mice had significantly reduced blood levels of multiple pro-inflammatory cytokines, including TNF-alpha and interleukins 1, 2, 6, 12, MIP-1alpha, and IFN-gamma, officials said.

Interestingly, cytokine IL-10, a down-regulator of pro-inflammatory cytokines, was unaffected by Factor 5A-1, further enforcing that Factor 5A-1 selectively recruits mRNAs for apoptosis and inflammation, officials added.

These data, in conjunction with the company's previously reported data in which siRNA-treated mice had increased survival rates in the presence of lethal doses of LPS, indicate that siRNA to Factor 5A-1 protects against premature cell death caused by inflammation.

The survival data was presented at the recent Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy meeting, where it was selected for an award in the category of therapeutics. The award given to the LPS survival abstract was one of only six out of about 2,700 abstracts submitted for consideration, officials said.

Senesco, a plant science biotechnology company in New Brunswick, N.J., has initiated preclinical research to trigger or delay cell death in mammals to determine if its technology is applicable in human medicine. Accelerating apoptosis may have applications to the development of cancer treatments. Delaying apoptosis may have applications to certain diseases such as glaucoma, ischemia and arthritis, among others.

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