Date: 2015-05-11
Type of information: Initiation of preclinical development
phase:
Announcement: presentation of results at the 74th Annual Meeting of the Society for Investigative Dermatology.
Company: RXi Pharmaceuticals (USA - MA)
Product: self-delivering RNAi (sd-rxRNA®)
Action
mechanism: RNAi/antisense oligonucleotide. RXi\'s self-delivering RNAi (sd?rxRNA) compounds are hybrid oligonucleotide molecules that combine the beneficial properties of both conventional RNAi and antisense technologies. The sd?rxRNAs have a single-stranded phosphorothioate region, a short duplex region, and contain a variety of nuclease-stabilizing and lipophilic chemical modifications. RXI-109, an sd-rxRNA compound, is the Company\'s first product candidate. RXI-109 silences Connective Tissue Growth Factor (CTGF), which plays a key role in tissue regeneration and repair and is initially being developed to reduce or inhibit scar formation in the skin and retina and is currently being evaluated in Phase 2a clinical trials.
Disease:
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology - Dermatological diseases
Country:
Trial details:
Latest
news: * On May 11, 2015, RXi Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing innovative therapies primarily in the areas of dermatology and ophthalmology, presented new data, on its proprietary self-delivering RNAi (sd-rxRNA®) compounds developed to target Tyrosinase (TYR) and Collagenase (MMP1) at the 74th Annual Meeting of the Society for Investigative Dermatology. Poster 642 presented new data from one of the Company\'s discovery stage programs, showing that sd?rxRNA compounds developed to target TYR, lead to a visible reduction in pigmentation in cultured melanocytes. In vitro experiments have been carried out using a 3?dimensional tissue culture model of human epidermis that contains melanocytes. The results of these experiments show that sd-rxRNA compounds targeting tyrosinase, in this model, are at least one hundred times more potent than kojic acid, a well-characterized skin lightening agent in reducing the melanin production in melanocytes. Poster 487 presented results on sd-rxRNA compounds targeting MMP1. In this discovery program, multiple potent sd-rxRNAs that target MMP1 have been identified and evaluated. Data from this poster show a reduction in MMP1 mRNA levels that corresponds to a similar reduction in MMP1 enzyme activity in HT-1080 cells, a cell line useful for research related to cancer of connective tissues. In addition, silencing of MMP1 expression in an in vitro scratch assay resulted in reduced migration of A549 cells, a clinically relevant non-small cell lung cancer cell line. Reduced migration in a scratch assay may indicate a reduction in the invasive nature of the cancer cell due to MMP1 reduction as a result of sd-rxRNA treatment.
