Class I HDAC complexes

Dec. 26, 2024 -- Viracta Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: VIRX), a clinical-stage precision oncology company focused on the treatment and prevention of virus-associated cancers that impact patients worldwide, today announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a process to explore a broad range of strategic alternatives. To maximize its cash runway while the Board conducts its review of strategic alternatives, Viracta has elected to close its ongoing pivotal Phase 2 clinical trial of Nana-val in relapsed/refractory EBV+ lymphomas (the NAVAL-1 trial). The company emphasized that its decision to voluntarily close the trial is not the result of any new safety finding. “As we continue to look for ways to conserve resources and maximize value for the company, we made the very difficult decision to close the NAVAL-1 study while the Board undertakes its strategic review,” stated Mark Rothera, President and Chief Executive Officer of Viracta. “I would like to thank the physicians and patients who participated in this important study, as well as the Viracta team members who worked so tirelessly on this program. I continue to believe that Nana-val has the potential to improve the treatment of relapsed/refractory EBV+ lymphomas, and I remain hopeful that it will one day be approved.” Viracta is making this announcement to inform shareholders and the public that the Company is engaging in discussions for strategic alternatives with the goal of maximizing value. Potential alternatives include, but are not limited to, a merger, licensing agreement, sale or other strategic transaction. There can be no assurance that the exploration of strategic alternatives will result in any agreements or transactions, or as to the timing of any such agreements or transactions. Viracta does not intend to discuss or disclose further developments regarding the exploration of strategic alternatives unless and until its Board of Directors has approved a specific action or otherwise determined that further disclosure is appropriate or required by law. Viracta is a clinical-stage precision oncology company focused on the treatment and prevention of virus-associated cancers that impact patients worldwide. Viracta’s lead product candidate is an all-oral combination therapy of its proprietary investigational drug, nanatinostat, and the antiviral agent valganciclovir (collectively referred to as Nana-val). Nana-val is currently being evaluated in multiple ongoing clinical trials, including a potentially registrational, global, multicenter, open-label Phase 2 basket trial for the treatment of multiple subtypes of relapsed or refractory (R/R) Epstein-Barr virus-positive (EBV+) lymphoma (NAVAL-1), as well as a multinational, open-label Phase 1b/2 clinical trial for the treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic (R/M) EBV+ nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and other advanced EBV+ solid tumors. Viracta is also pursuing the application of its “Kick and Kill” approach in other virus-related cancers. The content above comes from the network. if any infringement, please contact us to modify.

July 19, 2024 -- Shuttle Pharmaceuticals Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: SHPH), (“Shuttle Pharma”), a discovery and development stage specialty pharmaceutical company focused on improving outcomes for cancer patients treated with radiation therapy (RT), today announced the publication of a manuscript reporting on the ability of one of the Company’s HDAC inhibitor pre-clinical assets, SP-1-303, which exhibits ataxia-telangiectasia mutated protein (ATM) activation and modulation of estrogen receptor expression resulting in substantial growth inhibition of estrogen receptor positive breast cancer cells (ER + BC). The published manuscript, titled "Dual-targeting class I HDAC inhibitor and ATM activator, SP-1-303, preferentially inhibits estrogen receptor positive breast cancer cell growth,” reports the work of Dr. Mira Jung, Professor of Radiation Medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center, and Dr. Scott Grindrod, Shuttle Pharma’s Principal Scientist, and was published in PLOS ONE, a peer-reviewed open access journal published by the Public Library of Science (PLOS). SP-1-303, initially discovered and synthesized in Shuttle Pharma’s laboratories by Dr. Grindrod, is one of the Company’s pre-clinical selective Class I HDAC inhibitors. Histone deacetylase inhibitors sensitize cancers to the effects of radiation, protect normal tissues from radiation injury and activate the immune system. SP-1-303 is a selective Class I HDAC inhibitor that inhibits HDAC1, 3 and 6 and has direct cellular toxicity in ER + BC. Furthermore, SP-1-303 increases the PD-L1 expression level in a time-dependent manner, supporting combination of SP-1-303 with an immune checkpoint blocker to enhance the therapeutic benefits. “Inhibition of cancer cell growth with little effect on surrounding normal cells is the desired strategy for treatment of cancers,” commented Anatoly Dritschilo, M.D., CEO of Shuttle Pharmaceuticals and a co-author of the report. “The report highlights to the scientific and financial community how combined targeting of Class I HDACs and ATM by SP-1-303 offers a promising therapeutic approach for treating estrogen receptor positive breast cancers and supports further preclinical evaluation as a potential therapeutic agent.” Founded in 2012 by faculty members of the Georgetown University Medical Center, Shuttle Pharma is a discovery and development stage specialty pharmaceutical company focused on improving the outcomes for cancer patients treated with radiation therapy (RT). Our mission is to improve the lives of cancer patients by developing therapies that are designed to maximize the effectiveness of RT while limiting the side effects of radiation in cancer treatment. Although RT is a proven modality for treating cancers, by developing radiation sensitizers, we aim to increase cancer cure rates, prolong patient survival and improve quality of life when used as a primary treatment or in combination with surgery, chemotherapy and immunotherapy. For more information, please visit our website at www.shuttlepharma.com. The content above comes from the network. if any infringement, please contact us to modify.

Immunotherapy is one of the pillars in the fight against cancer and aims to enable the body's own immune system to fight a tumor. A recent study now shows that removing certain enzymes that regulate epigenetic processes from the so-called dentritic cells of the immune system influences their development and thus improves anti-tumor immunity. This finding could lead to new therapeutic strategies in immunotherapy. Immunotherapy is one of the pillars in the fight against cancer and aims to enable the body's own immune system to fight a tumor. A recent study now shows that removing certain enzymes that regulate epigenetic processes from the so-called dentritic cells of the immune system influences their development and thus improves anti-tumor immunity. This finding could lead to new therapeutic strategies in immunotherapy. The study by Cristiano De Sá Fernandes from Maria Sibilia's research group at the Center for Cancer Research and the Comprehensive Cancer Center of MedUni Vienna and Vienna General Hospital was recently published in Cell Reports. Cancer cells are the body's own cells that do not divide and develop as intended and abandon their place and function in the body. The difficult thing about fighting them is that, as the body's own cells, the immune system cannot recognize them well and therefore cannot fight them. This is where immunotherapy kicks-in: It enables the patient's own immune system to identify the cancer cells and activate the body's own defenses. Dendritic cells (DCs) are important cells of the immune system that develop from precursor cells and can form different subgroups by changing their gene activity. These subgroups fulfill different functions in the immune system. However, it is not yet known exactly how certain epigenetic changes in chromatin (the material that makes up chromosomes) influence the development of DCs. In the study, the researchers inhibited two enzymes that regulate such epigenetic processes to see how this affects the development and function of DCs. They focused on the specific enzymes HDAC1 and HDAC2. Improved immune response Through multi-omics analyses, i.e. the analysis of several biological data such as gene expression and chromatin accessibility, the researchers found that the development of certain subgroups of DCs was impaired by the absence of HDAC1. This shows that HDAC1 plays a crucial role in their development. In the absence of HDAC1, DCs change their immune response, which improves tumor surveillance. Removing the enzyme HDAC2, on the other hand, had no major effect on the development of DCs. In summary, the study shows that the removal of HDAC1 influences the development of certain DC subsets and improves anti-tumor immunity. These findings could lead to new therapeutic strategies in cancer immunotherapy. This study was conducted as part of the FWF-funded PhD program DocFunds "Tissue Home," first author Cristiano de Fernandes was a PhD student.