Study Results Show Compound Inhibits Growth

Insmed Incorporated reported data from studies of their anti-tumor agent recombinant human insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (rhIGFBP-3) will be presented at the 95th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) to be held this weekend in Orlando.

The results of this study published in the abstract titled "The potential utility of recombinant human IGF binding protein-3 (rhIGFBP-3) for the treatment of HER-2-positive breast cancer " was conducted in the laboratory of Dr. Brian Leyland-Jones of McGill University and was designed to evaluate the anti-tumor activity of rhIGFBP-3 in a mouse model of Herceptin-resistant breast cancer.

The study demonstrated the following:
1. As a single agent rhIGFBP-3 inhibited Herceptin-resistant breast tumor growth by 67?ompared to control however Herceptin only inhibited tumor growth by 30`
2. The combination of agents inhibited breast tumor growth by 78`

rhIGFBP-3 is a protein that is normally found in our bloodstream that has been shown to induce cancer cell death in a variety of experimental systems. Several studies have demonstrated that cancer risk increases with decreasing levels of circulating IGFBP-3. In addition recent independent studies have demonstrated that IGFBP-3 can induce cell cycle arrest and enhance the efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents. Insmed is currently engaged in an active preclinical program with leading clinical oncologists and world experts in the field of IGFBP-3 research to evaluate the efficacy of rhIGFBP-3 as a therapeutic agent and to define the optimal clinical protocol in which to translate these promising observations into human clinical trials.


Cancer LifeCenter Article 9402