, an MUSC pulmonologist who co-led the AstraZeneca vaccine trial that recruited more than 650 people in Charleston answers questions about the Novavax and Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccine trials that just launched in January. Flume also co-directs the South Carolina Clinical & Translational Research Institute, the mission of which is to speed research breakthroughs, such as the COVID-19 vaccines, into the clinic.
The Novavax and Johnson & Johnson/Janssen trials will be recruiting 600 participants each in the Charleston area, and participants will be compensated. Flume would like to recruit clinical trial participants who reflect the diversity of the population.
“We need a broad mix of people to participate,” said Flume. “We need young and old, men and women, black and white, Hispanic and non-Hispanic.”
Designer DNA Helps Treat Multiple Myeloma in Mice by Angela Mohan on January 21, 2021 at 12:20 PM
Targeted approach helps to treat myeloma by silencing IRF4, a gene that allows myeloma stem cells and tumor cells to proliferate and survive.
Past studies have shown that high IRF4 levels are associated with lower overall survival rates for patients with the disease, as per the team of researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Ionis Pharmaceuticals.
Many patients with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, eventually develop resistance to one treatment after another. That s in part because cancer stem cells drive the disease cells that continually self-renew. If a therapy can t completely destroy these malignant stem cells, the cancer is likely to keep coming back.
Antisense Oligo Targets IRF4 Gene to Treat Multiple Myeloma
Source: OGphoto/Getty Images
January 21, 2021
Scientists at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Ionis Pharmaceuticals are taking a new, targeted approach to the treatment of myeloma: silencing IRF4, a gene that allows myeloma stem cells and tumor cells to proliferate and survive. Past studies have shown that high IRF4 levels are associated with lower overall survival rates for patients with the disease.
Cell Stem Cell, the team reports on their work which involved inhibiting IRF4 with an antisense oligonucleotide, an engineered piece of DNA specifically designed to bind the genetic material coding for IRF4, causing it to degrade. The oligonucleotide, an investigational antisense medicine developed by Ionis and known as ION251, lowered disease burden, reduced myeloma stem cell abundance, and increased survival of mice bearing human myeloma, according to preclinical study data.
Many patients with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, eventually develop resistance to one treatment after another. That's in part because cancer stem cells drive the disease cells that continually self-renew. If a therapy can't completely destroy these malignant stem cells, the cancer is likely to keep coming back.
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Many patients with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, eventually develop resistance to one treatment after another. That s in part because cancer stem cells drive the disease cells that continually self-renew. If a therapy can t completely destroy these malignant stem cells, the cancer is likely to keep coming back.
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Ionis Pharmaceuticals are taking a new, targeted approach to myeloma treatment silencing IRF4, a gene that allows myeloma stem cells and tumor cells to proliferate and survive. Past studies have shown that high IRF4 levels are associated with lower overall survival rates for patients with the disease.