IUBio

Cancer & HIV Controlled With ONCONASE

Carmine M. Zingarino gn686 at cleveland.Freenet.Edu
Sat May 13 10:22:37 EST 1995


Cancer & HIV Controlled With ONCONASE, A Novel RNase Therapeutic
by Carmine M. Zingarino

ABSTRACT - What is ONCONASE?

   The word "ONCONASE" is a contraction of the words ONCOLOGY and 
RIBONUCLEASE (RNASE).  It is used to identify a protein substance 
that possesses anti-cancer properties and RNase specific 
enzymatic activities.
   In fact, Onconase is a ribonuclease protein (RNase) derived 
from the eggs (oocytes) and early embryos of the leopard frog 
"Rana pipiens." It is a novel protein based on its comparison 
with over 10,000 other proteins registered with the National 
Biomedical Research Foundation Protein Identification Resource.  
Though the scope of its anti-cancer activity embraces a wide 
variety of tumor cell types, it is especially active against 
carcinomas (i.e. solid tumor cancers), which may account for 
about 90% of all cancers.  Alfacell Corporation - a 
biopharmaceutical company located in Bloomfield, New Jersey - is 
credited with the discovery of this RNase protein.  
   In addition to the anti-tumor properties just noted Onconase 
also possesses anti-viral activity.  In particular, scientists at 
the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have shown that Onconase 
is active against the HIV-1 virus, the causative agent of AIDS.  
NIH studies demonstrate that Onconase inhibits replication of the 
HIV-1 virus up to 99.9% "in vitro" within 4 days.
   The scientific data clearly demonstrates that Onconase has 
considerable potential in the treatment of cancer and HIV 
infections.  These considerations convinced the Food and Drug 
Administration (FDA) in January 1995 to approve Onconase for a  
Phase III clinical trial involving pancreatic cancer.  In fact, 
Onconase is the first RNase drug to reach this stage of clinical 
testing.  Consequently, it represents an entirely new approach to 
the treatment of cancer and viral infections.  This article 
summarizes the scientific research and developmental history of 
ONCONASE (P-30 protein), a novel RNase therapeutic.


If you enjoyed this abstract you may wish to read  the complete 
article entitled, "Cancer & HIV Controlled With ONCONASE, A Novel 
RNase Therapeutic."  This article provides a detailed 
discussion of ONCONASE's molecular structure, its mechanism of 
action in cancer cells and HIV-1 infected cells, and a review of
the clinical studies.  The scientific literature is extensively
referenced throughout the article.

Copies of the article are free.  You may quote the article if you
wish as long as you give proper credit to the author.

Please send E-mail requests to Carmine Zingarino at
gn686 at cleveland.Freenet.Edu.
-- 



More information about the Proteins mailing list

Send comments to us at biosci-help [At] net.bio.net