Regen BioPharma Inc. announced the discovery and demonstration of in vitro efficacy of a second generation of gene silencing drug candidates with specificity to the cancer stem cell gene NR2F6. The Company has rights to an invention covered by a non-provisional patent application disclosing compositions of matter, protocols and methods of use of treatment for cancer and other diseases of aberrant cellular proliferation. The patent covers the use of its proprietary novel candidates administered as short interfering nucleic acid (siNA) antisense, short interfering RNA (siRNA), double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), micro-RNA (miRNA), and short hairpin RNA (shRNA).

Proof-of-concept studies originally identifying NR2F6 as a target for cancer stem cells were performed by Dr. Christine Ichim, senior research consultant with Regen Biopharma, along with scientists at the University of Toronto. These studies showed that silencing of the NR2F6 gene in leukemia cells led to the cells losing their leukemic characteristics. Cancer stem cells, also known as the cancer initiating cells, are the cells in a cancer that are tumorigenic, meaning they have the ability to cause formation of new tumors when implanted in animals.

Blocking their ability to self-renew by silencing NR2F6 transforms cancer cells in to a non-tumorigenic state by guiding cells toward a process called differentiation and cellular maturation.