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Sangamo BioSciences develops means of creating HIV resistance
By Angela McDaniels
Seattle, Feb. 9 - Sangamo BioSciences Inc. said it has developed a technology that prevents HIV infection by permanently modifying the DNA sequence encoding CCR5, a chemokine receptor that HIV uses to gain entry into immune cells.
During an in vitro program to develop a zinc finger DNA-binding protein (ZFP) treatment for HIV/AIDS, the company found that its ZFP nuclease (ZFN) technology can be used to make cells resistant to HIV infection.
"Moreover, the cells were able to grow in culture under conditions in which they were exposed to the virus for prolonged periods," chief medical officer Dale Ando said in a company news release.
"When CCR5 expression was experimentally restored to the ZFN-modified cells, HIV was once again able to infect them, demonstrating the selectivity of the approach."
Sangamo plans to begin a phase 1 clinical trial to test the HIV ZFP therapeutic in the second half of 2006, according to the release.
Several major pharmaceutical companies have begun programs to develop small molecule or antibody approaches to block the binding of HIV to CCR5. Sangamo said that these approaches require the constant presence of antagonist in high enough concentrations to block therapeutically relevant numbers of the CCR5 protein, which is present in thousands of copies on the surface of each T-cell.
In contrast, brief exposure of T-cells to Sangamo's ZFNs has been shown to result in permanent modification of the CCR5 gene and consequent alteration of the CCR5 protein, the company said.
The data was presented in an oral session at the 13th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections held in Denver this week.
Sangamo BioSciences is a Richmond, Calif., company that researches and develops DNA-binding proteins for therapeutic gene regulation and modification.
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