Data on Cancer Resistance Pathway Inhibitor IT-139 to be Presented at AACR 2018 Annual Meeting

TAMPA, Fla., March 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Intezyne, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel cancer therapies, announced that Ayesha Shajahan-Haq,  PhD, Assistant Professor of Oncology at the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University, is presenting her most recent data related to IT-139's mitigation of drug resistance in breast cancer at the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2018 in Chicago, Illinois from April 14-18.

Dr. Shajahan-Haq's poster is titled: 'Inhibition of DNA Repair Pathways in Breast Cancer is a Potential Mechanism of Action of IT-139' and will be presented in the Experimental and Molecular Therapeutics Section under the New Agents and New Targets session.

Leveraging her expertise in mechanisms of drug resistance using a systems approach, Dr. Shajahan-Haq's continues to provide insight into how to both increase effectiveness and mitigate resistance against existing breast cancer therapies, including PARP inhibitors, with which IT-139 has demonstrated synergy. "Long-term treatment usually results in the remaining cancer cells becoming resistant to therapy. Knockdown of GRP78, a key gene in the unfolded protein response (UPR), can re-sensitize resistant cells," says Dr. Shajahan-Haq.

"We know that treating resistant cancer cell lines with IT-139 in combination with other anti-cancer therapies overrides resistance, but Dr. Shajahan-Haq, through her innovative approach, is identifying the precise pathways involved in IT-139's unique mechanism of action, which should provide clues as to the indications and sub-populations where IT-139 will be most clinically effective. IT-139's down-regulation of genes involved in the DNA repair pathway is also an important finding for combinations with targeted therapy ? particularly PARP inhibitors ? an area which will be explored in the near-future," stated Suzanne Bakewell, PhD, VP of Preclinical Development at Intezyne.

Intezyne's collaboration with Dr. Shajahan-Haq and Georgetown Lombardi originated through her research into cytotoxic stress pathways (including GRP78) in tumor cells that can lead to resistance. At the AACR Annual Meeting 2017, the first symposium session for GRP78 and the UPR was held which featured Intezyne collaborator Dr. Amy Lee, Associate Director for Basic Research at USC's Norris Cancer Center, who presented her data showing IT-139's effect on GRP78. Dr. Lee's 2013 Oncogene article is recognized as one of their most highly cited papers, reflecting the growing interest in GRP78 and the UPR as important targets for cancer treatment.

"On behalf of Intezyne, I enthusiastically congratulate Dr. Shajahan-Haq on this recognition of her important contribution to the rapidly growing field of research on cancer resistance," added E. Russell McAllister, CEO of Intezyne. "As our understanding of the unique mechanism of action of IT-139 continues to grow, so too does our excitement for its powerful therapeutic and commercial potential."

For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.intezyne.com.

Contact:
E. Russell McAllister, CEO
[email protected], (813) 609-5017

SOURCE Intezyne, Inc.