Scientists Report that T4 May Have Important Role in Multiple Myeloma

REGENERX BIOPHARMACEUTICALS, INC. (AMEX: RGN) announced today that a team of European scientists reported that in a group of 171 previously-treated multiple myeloma patients (cancer of the bone marrow), the patient group whose cancer cells had the highest levels of Tβ4 had a greater chance of not having recurrences of the disease and longer overall survival than a group of patients in the study with the lowest levels of Tβ4.

In addition, the researchers found higher levels of Tβ4 in control (non-myeloma) cells than in the patients’ myeloma cells. Similar results were seen in normal murine (mouse) cells compared to a murine myeloma cell line.

It was also reported that if Tβ4 is genetically manipulated to be over-expressed in murine myeloma cells, the research team observed, “a significantly decreased proliferative capacity and an increased sensitivity to different anti-myeloma agents compared to control myeloma cells.” Most importantly, the team found that when Tβ4 over-expressing murine multiple myeloma cells were injected into mice, there was a significant decrease in tumor formation and prolonged survival compared to mice injected with myeloma cells that did not over-express Tβ4.

“These impressive, ground-breaking results suggest that the gene for Tβ4 may serve as a tumor suppressor gene in patients with multiple myeloma. We look forward to future studies to further define the role Tβ4 may have in this disease,” commented Dr. Allan Goldstein, Professor and Chairman of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at The George Washington University Medical Center and RegeneRx’s Chief Scientific Advisor and Board Chairman.

The study was presented at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting on Saturday, December 6, 2008 in San Francisco, CA. The research team consisted of scientists from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium; GMMG; University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; and INSERM U847, Montpellier, France. The research was not conducted by or on behalf of RegeneRx.

Multiple Myeloma

Multiple myeloma (also known as myeloma or plasma cell myeloma) is a progressive hematologic (blood) disease. It is a cancer of the plasma cell, an important part of the immune system that produces immunoglobulins (antibodies) to help fight infection and disease. Multiple myeloma is characterized by excessive numbers of abnormal plasma cells in the bone marrow and overproduction of intact monoclonal immunoglobulin (IgG, IgA, IgD, or IgE) or Bence-Jones protein. Hypercalcemia, anemia, renal damage, increased susceptibility to bacterial infection, and impaired production of normal immunoglobulin are common clinical manifestations of multiple myeloma. It is often also characterized by diffuse osteoporosis, usually in the pelvis, spine, ribs, and skull. Multiple myeloma is an incurable but treatable disease. The estimated frequency of multiple myeloma is 5 to 7 new cases per 100,000 persons per year. Accordingly, in the United States, 19,920 new cases are expected to be diagnosed in 2008. There were more than 56,000 Americans living with multiple myeloma in 2005, the most current date these statistics are available. (From the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, www.multiplemyeloma.org.)

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