Isis and Collaborators Show Anticancer Effects of STAT-3 Inhibitor

Scientists from Isis Pharmaceuticals have reported in Nature Medicine that the STAT-3 gene is required for the generation of B-lymphomas in mice carrying a mutation implicated in some human lymphomas and that reducing the expression of STAT-3 with a second-generation antisense drug targeted to STAT-3 resulted in impaired growth of human and mouse lymphoid tumors in animals.

The Isis scientists are working in collaboration with scientists at the Department of Pathology and NYU Cancer Institute, New York University School of Medicine and the Department of Pathology and Center for experimental Research and Medical Studies, University of Torino.

These results suggest that the second-generation antisense inhibitor of STAT-3 might be an effective treatment for human lymphomas, multiple myeloma, and other cancers. The drug, ISIS 345794, is in preclinical development at Isis.