September 18, 2008: Compugen Ltd. announced that its proprietary DAC Blockers platform has led to the discovery of CGEN-25008, a novel peptide antagonist of the Clusterin protein, and that recently analyzed in vitro and initial in vivo results from cell-based assays and a lung cancer mouse model indicate that CGEN-25008 reduces the growth rate of several cancer cell lines and significantly enhances the anti-cancer activity of Taxol, a frequently used cancer chemotherapeutic drug.

The novel peptide CGEN-25008 has been shown to slow the growth of human non-small cell lung cancer cells and other malignant cell lines including breast, prostate, colon, and melanoma cancers when tested directly on them. In addition, administration of CGEN-25008 in remarkably low doses (1 nano Molar) in combination with Taxol was shown to increase the cancer cells’ sensitivity to Taxol, allowing a ten-fold reduction in the concentration of Taxol while maintaining the same anti-cancer effect.

A combination of a higher dose of CGEN-25008 (80 nano Molar) with Taxol was shown to result in a 40%t increase over the maximal anti-cancer effect achieved by Taxol alone.

“In a mouse model of lung cancer, the tumor size decreased significantly more when Taxol was given in combination with CGEN-25008, as compared to when mice were treated with Taxol alone,” noted Yossi Cohen, VP of R&D at Compugen, in a statement. “This may ultimately translate to lower required doses of chemotherapy, with reduced side effects, while maintaining its comparable therapeutic benefits or potentially strengthening the maximal anti-cancer effects achieved.”