Oblimersen (

INN Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway. Before the advent of motorized transportation, they also provided accomm ...

, trade name Genasense; also known as Augmerosen and bcl-2 antisense oligodeoxynucleotide G3139) is an

antisense In molecular biology and genetics, the sense of a nucleic acid molecule, particularly of a strand of DNA or RNA, refers to the nature of the roles of the strand and its complement in specifying a sequence of amino acids. Depending on the context, ...

oligodeoxyribonucleotide being studied as a possible treatment for several types of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

, including

chronic lymphocytic leukemia Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow. In CLL, the bone marrow makes too many lymphocytes, which are a type of white blood cell. In patients with CLL, B cell lymphocytes can begin to colle ...

B-cell lymphoma The B-cell lymphomas are types of lymphoma affecting B cells. Lymphomas are Tumors of the hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues, "blood cancers" in the lymph nodes. They develop more frequently in older adults and in immunocompromised individuals. ...

, and

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

. It may kill cancer cells by blocking the production of

Bcl-2 Bcl-2, encoded in humans by the ''BCL2'' gene, is the founding member of the Bcl-2 family of regulator proteins. BCL2 blocks programmed cell death (apoptosis) while other BCL2 family members can either inhibit or induce it. It was the first a ...

—a

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

that makes cancer cells live longer—and by making them more sensitive to chemotherapy.

History

The antisense

oligonucleotide Oligonucleotides are short DNA or RNA molecules, oligomers, that have a wide range of applications in genetic testing, Recombinant DNA, research, and Forensic DNA, forensics. Commonly made in the laboratory by Oligonucleotide synthesis, solid-phase ...

drug oblimersen was developed by Genta Incorporated to target Bcl-2. An antisense DNA or RNA strand is non-coding and complementary to the coding strand (which is the template for producing respectively RNA or protein). An antisense drug is a short sequence of RNA which hybridises with and inactivates mRNA, preventing the protein from being formed. It was shown that the proliferation of human

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). The name typically refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph node ...

cells (with t(14;18) translocation) could be inhibited by antisense RNA targeted at the start

codon Genetic code is a set of rules used by living cells to translate information encoded within genetic material (DNA or RNA sequences of nucleotide triplets or codons) into proteins. Translation is accomplished by the ribosome, which links prote ...

region of Bcl-2

mRNA In molecular biology, messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) is a single-stranded molecule of RNA that corresponds to the genetic sequence of a gene, and is read by a ribosome in the process of Protein biosynthesis, synthesizing a protein. mRNA is ...

In vitro ''In vitro'' (meaning ''in glass'', or ''in the glass'') Research, studies are performed with Cell (biology), cells or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called "test-tube experiments", these studies in ...

studies led to the identification of oblimersen, which is complementary to the first 6 codons of Bcl-2 mRNA. These have shown successful results in Phase I/II trials for lymphoma, and a large Phase III trial was launched in 2004. By the first quarter 2010, the drug had not received

FDA The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

approval due to disappointing results in a melanoma trial. Although its safety and efficacy have not been established for any use, Genta Incorporated still claims on its website that studies are currently under way to examine the potential role of oblimersen in a variety of clinical indications. Recent studies in 2023 continue to explore the potential of oblimersen in combination with other therapies. Preclinical models have demonstrated that oblimersen, when combined with vinorelbine, significantly inhibits tumor growth and prolongs survival in NSCLC. These findings suggest that combining oblimersen with other chemotherapeutic agents could enhance its efficacy and potentially overcome previous clinical challenges

References

External links

Augmerosen
entry in the public domain NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms {{Chemotherapeutic agents Experimental cancer drugs Antisense RNA Therapeutic gene modulation