StemCell Therapy

WOONSOCKET, R.I., May 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --MultiCell Technologies, Inc. (MCET.OB) is pleased to announce representatives from the Company will present preclinical research findings for MCT-465 and MCT-485 at CIMT 2012 (http://meeting.cimt.eu), Europe's largest meeting dedicated to cancer immunotherapy research and development. CIMT 2012 will be held in May 23-25 in Mainz, Germany. The title of the poster presentation is: "Sharply discordant biological properties of synthetic noncoding dsRNA of different size: Translational opportunities in cancer."The poster presentation in the Enhancing Immunity session of the conference (poster number 078) will be made by Dr. Simona Bot, a consultant to the Company. The Company will present its findings during Poster Session I held on May 23rd, from 3:00-4:30 PM, and Poster Session II held on May 24th from 4:00-5:30 PM.

About MCT-465 and MCT-485

MCT-465 and MCT-485 are the first of a family of prospective cancer therapeutics based on the use of our patented TLR3 signaling technology. MCT-465 and MCT 485 are in preclinical development, and are being investigated as prospective treatments for primary liver cancer and triple negative breast cancer.

The immune system is composed of two synergistic elements: the innate immune system and the adaptive immune system. Stimulation of the innate immune system through key receptors, plays a critical role in triggering the adaptive immune response stimulating T and B cells to produce antibodies. In cancer, this integrated defense system does not work well, resulting in suboptimal activation of innate immunity and thus, late or inefficient adaptive immunity. The innate immune system is composed of a family of ten receptor molecules, the Toll-like Receptors (TLR1-TLR10), which act as sentries to identify invaders and signal the alarm to mobilize the body's array of immune defenses.

Within the tumor lesion, there may be infiltrating monocytes, dendritic cells and leukocytes in general, that have the capability to mobilize an adaptive or innate immune response but they are either silent or immune suppressive in the absence of select immune interventions. Such infiltrating non-cancerous immune cells may express TLR3, other TLRs, RIG-I and/or MDA-5. In addition, within tumor lesions, there may be cancerous cells or stromal cells or cancer stem cells which express TLR3, other TLRs, RIG-I and MDA-5 (representing RNA-sensing molecules).

Cancer stem cells are thought to play a role in a tumor's resistance to therapy. While significant progress has been made in developing cancer therapies that result in cytoreduction and thus tumor regression, the control of cancer over a longer interval and especially of metastatic disease, remains a key goal. Cancer stem cells are believed to be responsible for cancer relapse by being less sensitive to conventional therapies.

MultiCell owns exclusive rights to two issued U.S. patents (6,872,389 and 6,129,911), one U.S. patent application (U.S. 2006/0019387A1), and several corresponding issued and pending foreign patents and patent applications related to the isolation and differentiation of liver stem cells. The role of liver stem cells in the carcinogenic process has recently led to a new hypothesis that hepatocellular carcinoma arises by maturation arrest of liver stem cells.

Double stranded RNA provides a therapeutic avenue for cancer treatment through (a) activating intra-tumoral leukocytes, abrogating their immune suppressive activity and/or (b) interacting with cancerous cells and directly inducing apoptosis, or indirectly through mobilization of immune effector mechanisms.

MCT-465 is a high molecular weight synthetic dsRNA (polyA:polyU, of 70bps) with immune enhancing properties. The mechanism of action of MCT-465 is pleiotropic and mediated by RNA sensors such as TLR3, 7/8, MDA-5 and RIG-I - expressed by antigen presenting cells and select cases, by tumor cells:

Prior studies with similar compounds support a strong immune enhancing effect of MCT-465, consisting in generation of Tc immunity against tumors, when administered as a companion to a vaccine. This raises the possibility that MCT-465 is an effective adjunctive therapy to any small molecule targeted therapy (such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors - TKIs) that results in release of endogenous tumor antigen while interfering minimally with the immune competence.

Read more here:
MultiCell Technologies Announces Positive Preclinical Results for MCT-465 and MCT-485 in Primary Liver Cancer In Vitro ...

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