SENESCO REPORTS RESULTS OF CYTOKINE STUDY VERSUS STEROID, TNF INHIBITOR

Senesco Technologies has reported the results of a series of mouse experiments which compared the company's proprietary Factor 5A technology to two approved drugs: dexamethasone and Enbrel.

Dexamethasone is a glucocorticoid (catabolic steroid) reported to be stronger than prednisone, and Enbrel (etanercept) made by Amgen, which has been approved for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and other diseases, is a soluble tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor which acts to reduce inflammation by binding TNF to make it inactive. TNF is a cytokine, which are proteins produced by cells of the immune system as part of the body's defenses against infection and disease. Overproduction of certain cytokines can cause inflammation, swelling or damage to joints or organs.

In the company's preclinical experiments, mice were injected with LPS, an agent used to induce inflammatory response. Cytokine levels were then measured in the four experimental groups of mice: those that received a control treatment, those that received a single dose of Senesco's Factor 5A siRNA, those that received a single dose of dexamethasone and those that received a single dose of Enbrel.

Relative to the control treatment, dexamethasone treated mice had TNF levels decrease approximately 90 percent. Senesco siRNA treated mice had TNF levels decrease approximately 75 percent. Three different cytokines were measured in mice that received Enbrel. Interleukin 1-alpha decreased approximately 50 percent with Enbrel treatment as compared to approximately 35 percent with Senesco's siRNA. Interleukin-6 decreased approximately 98 percent with Enbrel as compared to approximately 82 percent with the Senesco siRNA and Interferon-gamma decreased approximately 93 percent with Enbrel as compared to approximately 87 percent with Senesco's siRNA.