Wednesday 17th October 2018, 2:30pm
Synpromics has unveiled its novel drug-regulatable promoter platform at the European Society of Cell and Gene Therapy (ESGCT) congress in Lausanne, Switzerland. The company is showcasing data generated from its innovative liver inducible and repressible synthetic promoter systems that are tightly controlled by FDA-approved small molecule drugs.
Synpromics has focused on creating a promoter system that is controlled solely by the presence of small molecules, either inducers or repressors, without the use of a trans-activator which is usually required to mediate the desired effect.
The company has used its PromPT® platform to identify endogenous tissue specific transcription machinery that can tightly control gene expression when used in combination with an inducer or repressor. The simple mechanisms identified have several advantages over the currently-used two component system, including decreased size and ease of use.
“The creation of drug-inducible and repressible promoters is the ultimate goal of gene therapy, as it should allow accurate and tunable control of the target therapeutic gene. We have significantly advanced our platform by creating a regulatable system that does not rely on the co-expression of other immunogenic regulatory proteins, a limitation that restricts the use of other regulatable promoter systems in gene therapy.”
Dr Michael Roberts, CSO and Founder of SynpromicsSynpromics is presenting this development in a poster at the ESGCT congress which describes an inducible system where increased concentrations of the inducer drug result in higher levels of gene expression, and a repressible system where a particular drug concentration can effectively silence the promoter. This tunable system looks set to revolutionise the sector, by enabling tighter regulation of any given therapeutic gene in all manner of liver-targeted gene therapies.
Roslin Innovation Centre
The University of Edinburgh
Easter Bush Campus
Midlothian EH25 9RG
