ACGT Investigator Award Received By Kipps Will Help Fund Further Testing Of Gene Therapy Treatment

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BlankACGT Investigator Award Received By Kipps Will Help Fund Further

Testing Of Gene Therapy Treatment For Leukemia Patients

21 Apr 2011

Citing his on-going development of an immune-mediated gene therapy for

intractable B cell leukemia, the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT) has

awarded J. Kipps, MD, PhD, professor of medicine in the University of

California, San Diego School of Medicine and deputy director of research

operations at the UC San Diego s Cancer Center, its 2010 Investigator Award

in Clinical Translation of Cell and Gene Therapy.

The award comes with a $750,000 grant spread over three years. Kipps had

previously received a 2005 ACGT Investigator grant to conduct a phase 1 safety

trial of the gene therapy approach.

Kipps, who holds the and Edwin Tasch Chair in Cancer Research,

specializes in chronic lymphocytic leukemia or CLL, the most common form of

leukemia among adults in Western societies. CLL is currently consid¬ered

incurable. More than 50 percent of relapsed CLL patients and 10 to 20 percent of

newly diagnosed CLL patients have limited or no response to existing treatments,

leading to a poor prognosis for survival.

Most therapy-resistant CLL patients exhibit a gene dysfunction on a particular

chromosome. Current therapeutic options for these patients usually involve

high-risk immunosuppressive treat-ments, which further reduces their lifespan.

Kipps' alternative approach involves sensitizing leukemia cells to cell death

(apoptosis), potentially making future treatments faster and more effective.

Early research findings have been corroborated in vitro and in test patients who

completed the proposed treatment course and achieved a complete response.

" There is a tremendous amount of new work that's going on to find the effective

targets for gene therapy and also the delivery vehicles, " said Kipps. " We're

seeing some very encouraging results right now that are being translated into

clinical trials. "

Source:

LaFee

University of California - San Diego

Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/223097.php

[Guest guest]

>

> BlankACGT Investigator Award Received By Kipps Will Help Fund Further

Testing Of Gene Therapy Treatment For Leukemia Patients

> 21 Apr 2011

>

> Citing his on-going development of an immune-mediated gene therapy for

intractable B cell leukemia, the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT) has

awarded J. Kipps, MD, PhD, professor of medicine in the University of

California, San Diego School of Medicine and deputy director of research

operations at the UC San Diego s Cancer Center, its 2010 Investigator Award

in Clinical Translation of Cell and Gene Therapy.

>

> The award comes with a $750,000 grant spread over three years. Kipps had

previously received a 2005 ACGT Investigator grant to conduct a phase 1 safety

trial of the gene therapy approach.

>

> Kipps, who holds the and Edwin Tasch Chair in Cancer Research,

specializes in chronic lymphocytic leukemia or CLL, the most common form of

leukemia among adults in Western societies. CLL is currently consid¬ered

incurable. More than 50 percent of relapsed CLL patients and 10 to 20 percent of

newly diagnosed CLL patients have limited or no response to existing treatments,

leading to a poor prognosis for survival.

>

> Most therapy-resistant CLL patients exhibit a gene dysfunction on a particular

chromosome. Current therapeutic options for these patients usually involve

high-risk immunosuppressive treat-ments, which further reduces their lifespan.

Kipps' alternative approach involves sensitizing leukemia cells to cell death

(apoptosis), potentially making future treatments faster and more effective.

Early research findings have been corroborated in vitro and in test patients who

completed the proposed treatment course and achieved a complete response.

>

> " There is a tremendous amount of new work that's going on to find the

effective targets for gene therapy and also the delivery vehicles, " said Kipps.

" We're seeing some very encouraging results right now that are being translated

into clinical trials. "

>

> Source:

> LaFee

> University of California - San Diego

> Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/223097.php

>

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