CURAGEN, TOPOTARGET TO STUDY PXD101 IN LYMPHOMA

CuraGen and TopoTarget announced that Southwest Oncology Group, a national clinical trials cooperative group, has begun a Phase II trial to test the effects of an investigational agent on aggressive B-cell lymphoma. The agent, PXD101, will be evaluated in patients whose previous treatment regimen did not work or whose cancer returned after treatment. The trial is sponsored by the National Cancer Institute.

PXD101 is designed to inhibit the enzyme histone deacetylase (HDAC). Histones are a class of proteins around which DNA is wrapped. The tightness of the wrapping controls the activity of the genes on the DNA. HDAC changes the way histones bind to the genes. Laboratory studies suggest that PXD101 can act on histones to kill cancer cells or prevent them from growing.

The purpose of the trial is to evaluate how B-cell lymphoma cells respond to the agent, how patients tolerate the treatment and how long patients can live with the treatment without disease progression. Based on preliminary data, investigators are particularly interested in whether PXD101 will enhance expression of immune-mediating molecules on the tumor cells' surface and thereby increase the immune system's ability to target the lymphoma.

The study will enroll up to 40 patients with refractory, aggressive, diffuse-large, high-grade Burkitt's or Burkitt's-like or primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma. Patients will receive PXD101 intravenously in three-week cycles.