The novel peptide CGEN-25008 has been shown to slow the growth of human non-small cell lung cancer cells and other malignant cell lines including breast, prostate, colon and melanoma cancers when tested directly on such cancer cells.
Compugen has also announced that recently analyzed in vitro and initial in vivo results from cell-based assays and a lung cancer mouse model indicate that CGEN-25008 reduces the growth rate of several cancer cell lines and significantly enhances the anti-cancer activity of Taxol, a cancer chemotherapeutic drug.
In addition, administration of CGEN-25008 in remarkably low doses (1 nano Molar) in combination with Taxol was shown to increase the sensitivity of the cancer cells to Taxol, allowing a ten-fold reduction in the concentration of Taxol while maintaining the same anti-cancer effect. In addition a combination of a higher dose of CGEN-25008 (80 nano Molar) with Taxol was shown to result in a 40% increase over the maximal anti-cancer effect achieved by Taxol alone.
Yossi Cohen, vice president of R&D at Compugen, said: “In a mouse model of lung cancer, the tumor size decreased significantly more when Taxol was given in combination with CGEN-25008, as compared to when mice were treated with Taxol alone. This may ultimately translate to lower required doses of chemotherapy, with reduced side effects, while maintaining its comparable therapeutic benefits or potentially strengthening the maximal anti-cancer effects achieved.”