Trade.Information

Product Name: Liver cancer

Product Description

Liver cancer, also known as hepatocellular carcinoma, or HCC, is the fifth most common cancer in the world. In 2006, approximately 18,500 new cases will be diagnosed in the U.S. and approximately 16,000 people will die of the disease. The incidence of HCC is rising principally as a result of the spread of chronic hepatitis C infection, or HCV, a chronic viral infection of the liver that can remain asymptomatic for years but can lead to liver cancer if left untreated. The World Health Organization estimates that more than 170 million people in the world, including 3.9 million in the U.S., are infected with HCV.

Current treatment - HCC patients have a very low survival rate, estimated to be 10% at five years post-diagnosis. Aside from a liver transplant, the best available treatment for liver cancer is to surgically remove the entire tumor with a margin of healthy tissue included. However, this option is available only to between approximately 5% and 10% of HCC patients. The results of the other available medical treatments, including chemotherapy, chemoembolization, ablation, and proton beam therapy, remain disappointing. Unfortunately, there have been no significant new developments in the treatment of liver cancer. As a consequence of the increasing incidence of the disease and the lack of effective treatments, the market for novel HCC drugs represents a large unmet need.

Our strategy - In order to develop a microRNA-based treatment for HCC, we entered into a collaboration with Isis Pharmaceuticals. Isis Pharmaceuticals has demonstrated its ability to inhibit microRNAs by administering mice a synthetic molecule designed to inhibit a liver-specific microRNA. The molecule reached the liver and reduced the level of this microRNA with no observable toxicological effects.

The first step in our development program is to identify candidate microRNA targets for inhibition. This is done by profiling the expression levels of all microRNAs in healthy and tumorous liver tissue samples in order to identify microRNAs which are overexpressed in the tumor samples. To date, we have already begun profiling samples and have found microRNAs which are significantly overexpressed in tumorous liver tissue. Such overexpressed microRNAs are potential candidate targets for a drug.

Company Details

Rosetta Genomics is an international leader in diagnostic and therapeutic product development and medical research involving micro-ribonucleic acid, commonly known as microRNA. Rosetta has developed an extensive integrated platform in microRNA... more