EMERYVILLE, Calif., Dec. 8, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — Bionovo, Inc.
(Nasdaq:
BNVI) today announced the publication of a study demonstrating
that ERb causes cancer cell growth arrest by inactivating critical
genes and enzymes responsible for cell growth. These results
provide evidence that drugs that stimulate the production of or
activate ERb are potential new therapies to prevent breast cancer.
The study is entitled “Estrogen receptor beta causes a G2 cell
cycle arrest by inhibiting CDK1 activity through the regulation of
cyclin B1, GADD45A, and BTG2”, in the journal Breast Cancer
Research and Treatment.
“Recently the selective estrogens receptor modulators (SERMs),
raloxifene and tamoxifen have been shown to prevent breast cancer
in women who have known risk factors for the disease by blocking
the effects of estrogen receptor alpha in breast tissue,” said Dale
Leitman, M.D., Ph.D., from the Department of Nutritional Science
and Toxicology, University of California, Berkeley and Bionovo’s
Scientific Advisory Board. “Unfortunately, the SERMs can activate
ERa in other tissues and can cause serious side-effects, such as
endometrial cancer, so most women are unwilling to use them. For
over a decade, we have been exploring alternative strategies to
prevent breast cancer with novel compounds that only act on the
estrogen receptor beta (ERb). In this study, we demonstrated that
ERb halts the growth of breast cancer cells by regulating several
key genes that control the growth of cancer cells, including cyclin
B1, GADD45A and BTG2. These results provide sound scientific
evidence to support the further development of ERb agonists as
therapies to prevent and treat breast cancer.”
“The reproductive hormone estrogen and the receptors that
mediate its activity in cells are critical for maintaining women’s
health and treating diseases common in women,” said Isaac Co
‘/>”/>
SOURCE
