Activated Rac1, Aging and Male Gender Predispose Mice to Kaposi's Sarcoma-Like Tumorigenesis
Qi Ma; Enrique Mesri; Chunming Dong and Pascal J. Goldschmidt-Clermont
Problem
Kaposi's sarcoma is a tumor that is a significant complication of HIV infection. It also occurs in immune-compromised patients. HAART treatment slows down the AIDS virus, but is not targeted to Kaposi's sarcoma.
Solution
A small interference ribonucleic acid (siRNA) molecule that is capable of down regulating the expression of Rac1.
Competitive Advantage
On HAART therapy, there may be
immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome which may mimic progression of Kaposi's sarcoma. The treatment based on this discovery would be applicable to any form of Kaposi's Sarcoma whether related to human immune-deficiency virus infection or not.
Applications
Treatment of Kaposi's sarcoma
Patent Status
International Patent Appln. No. PCT/US2008/011916 entitled "USE OF RAC1 INHIBITORS TO TREAT KAPOSI'S SARCOMA" WAS filed October 17, 2008.
Licensing Opportunity
The University of Miami is seeking collaborative research and licensing options.
About the Inventors
Dr. Pascal J. Goldschmidt became senior vice president for medical affairs and dean of the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine in April 2006. Before coming to UM, he was Edward S. Orgain Professor of Cardiology and chairman of the Department of Medicine at Duke University Medical Center. An internationally renowned cardiologist whose research applies genomics and cell therapy to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery disease, Dr. Goldschmidt was previously chief of Duke's Division of Cardiology. Before joining the Duke faculty in 2000, he was director of cardiology at The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health, where he built the Heart and Lung Research Institute and a heart hospital. Dr. Goldschmidt received his medical degree from the Universite Libre de Bruxelles and completed residency and fellowship training in Brussels at Erasme Academic Hospital and in the United States at Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Enrique A. Mesri is an Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology. He came two years ago from the Weill Cornell Medical College to join the Viral Oncology Program of the Sylvester Cancer Center. Trained at the National Cancer Institute at NIH, he became a highly productive scientist in the field of Viral Carcinogenesis of Kaposi's sarcoma, the most important type of cancer affecting AIDS patients. His laboratory was the first in isolating and transmitting the Kaposi' sarcoma virus, and the first on identifying the cancer causing genes of the virus. In the last years, Dr. Mesri has focused his efforts in creating mouse models of Kaposi's sarcoma to devise and test novel methods to cure the disease.
Dr. Qi Ma is a postdoctoral fellow in the Pharmocology Department. He came to UM in 2006 after obtaining his Ph.D. in Molecular Cell Biology at Duke University. He has been working on the animal models of cardiovascular diseases and cancer during the past years.
Selected References
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E.A.* (2007) In vivo growth-restricted, reversible malignancy induced by Human herpesvirus-8/ KSHV: a cell and animal model of virally induced Kaposi's sarcoma. Cancer Cell 11:254-258.
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