Decreased insulin activity is known to contribute to type 2 diabetes and other complications such as obesity, and these targets have demonstrated the ability to regulate insulin activity in fat cells when specific gene expression was silenced using small interfering RNA (siRNA) technology. Many of these drug targets are part of pathways previously shown to be important to diabetes and obesity.
These drug targets were identified using RNAi screening technology through CytRx’s existing collaborative program with University of Massachusetts Medical School.
“Two of these newly discovered drug targets regulate a well-known ‘fat burning’ metabolic pathway that has been the focus of significant interest to several large pharmaceutical companies,” said Steven Kriegsman, president and CEO of CytRx Corporation.