Geron makes multiple telomerase presentations at AACR meeting

By Lisa Kerner

Erie, Pa., April 6 - Geron Corp. researchers and collaborators made multiple presentations at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting.

Presentations included a preclinical study of its telomerase inhibitor drug GRN163L and a clinical study of its telomerase vaccine in advanced prostate cancer patients, according to a news release.

Geron said previous studies have shown that GRN163L reduces the tumorigenic potential of a human lung cancer cell line (A549-luc) both in vitro and in vivo. A549-luc cells were functionally altered in vitro by GRN163L with a resulting 50% reduction in cellular attachment and a three-fold decrease in cell spreading surface area, suggesting that GRN163L may have additional benefit in prevention of metastasis.

A current study seeks to define the immune response in advanced metastatic prostate cancer patients as a result of weekly intradermal injection of telomerase RNA-loaded autologous dendritic cells (DCs), activated in vivo by the topical application of low, intermediate or high doses of the immunomodulator Imiquimod cream, applied one to five days before each injection.

Six weekly injections of the telomerase vaccine resulted in robust hTERT-specific T-cell responses in the intermediate Imiquimod dose group, with modest responses in the low and high dose Imiquimod groups, the company said.

"We are pleased to see continued demonstration of the critical role of telomerase in human cancer as evidenced by the many presentations on telomerase at this year's AACR annual meeting," Geron chief scientific officer Calvin Harley said in the release.

"Geron's two cancer therapeutic products target telomerase in unique and specific ways. We look forward to the generation of additional clinical data supporting the utility of both our drug and vaccine over the coming months."

Geron is a biopharmaceutical company located in Menlo Park, Calif.

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