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news.GlycoGenesys a biotechnology firm focused on carbohydrate-based drug development, has made a new discovery, which has revealed how the company's cancer drug, GCS-100, targets malignant lymphoma cells and induces cell death.
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GlycoGenesys’ cancer drug candidate GCS-100 has been shown to bind to Galectin-3. Literature demonstrates that Galectin-3 and Bcl-2 are over-expressed in a variety of lymphomas and solid tumor cancers and that they help keep cancer cells alive.
The recent research demonstrated for the first time that Galectin-3 and Bcl-2 are co-located in malignant cell lines and that GCS-100 blocks Galectin-3’s ability to co-locate with Bcl-2 in these cell lines causing targeted cell death. This programmed cell death occurs through the known caspase-9 mediated cell death pathway.
The study shows that GCS-100 can induce significant programmed cell death in both malignant cell lines and primary chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells with minimal effect against normal B-cells and stem cells.
The investigation was led by Dr Finbarr Cotter, professor at The London Queen Mary’s School of Medicine. Dr Cotter said: “These findings provide a real insight into an exciting new agent for cancer therapy as well as a greater understanding of newly emerging cancer therapy targets, namely the galectins.”
GlycoGenesys’ drug is the first Galectin-3 inhibitor to enter clinical trials for the treatment of both bloodborne and solid tumor cancers.