Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NASDAQ: SNTA) today announced that
preclinical results presented at the “Bridging the Gap 2010” Hematologic
Conference, held in Singapore City, Singapore, February 5-7, 2010, shows
that STA-9090, a potent inhibitor of heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90),
inhibits the Wilms’ tumor 1 (WT1) protein, a key transcription factor
that drives disease progression in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) as well
as certain other leukemias. STA-9090 is currently enrolling patients in
two clinical trials in AML and other hematologic cancers.
“There is a very high need for new treatment options for patients with
AML”
“There is no established therapy that durably inhibits WT1 oncogenic
functions, which means there is a tremendous urgency to develop new
therapeutic options for patients whose cancer is driven by this
transcription factor,” said Swaminathan Padmanabhan, M.D., Cancer
Therapy and Research Center at the University of Texas Health Science
Center at San Antonio. “In these studies, STA-9090 potently inhibited
WT1 expression and demonstrated greater potency than the first
generation Hsp90 inhibitor 17-AAG. Targeting WT1 expression by Hsp90
inhibitors such as STA-9090 may offer new strategies to limit the
survival promoting effects of WT1 in myeloid leukemias including AML.”