PubMed Health⌕ Search
Home/Archive/PubMed

PubMed · 16004563

Perlegen sciences, inc.

Eric Peacock·Phyllis Whiteley
View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

For years we have recognized that using genetics to target the right medicines to the right patients at the right time could improve health care; however, technical and financial constraints have prevented researchers from conducting the comprehensive, whole-genome association studies required to make such advances. Now, Perlegen and its collaborators are making personalized medicine and high density whole-genome association studies a reality. Perlegen quickly and cost-effectively analyzes millions of unique genetic variations in thousands of patients to identify the genetic differences associated with efficacy and side effects. This enables the pharmaceutical drug response to be predicted, and the therapeutic window of a treatment to be expanded. Perlegen licenses compounds that may benefit from this approach, and collaborates with pharmaceutical companies to rescue and better position medicines in their portfolios. Furthermore, the company collaborates with researchers in the public sector to discover the genetic variations associated with common diseases, paving the way for new therapeutics and diagnostics.

Explore related subjects

Drug Delivery SystemsDrug IndustryGenotypePharmacogeneticsJournal Article

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Eric Peacock, Phyllis Whiteley. 2005. Perlegen sciences, inc.. https://doi.org/10.1517/14622416.6.4.439

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related citations

PubMed2007

Microparticles and nanoparticles for drug delivery.

Particulate drug delivery systems have become important in experimental pharmaceutics and clinical medicine. The distinction is often made between micro- and nanoparticles, being particles with dimensions best described in micrometers and nanometers respectively. That size difference entails real differences at many levels, from formulation to in vivo usage. Here I will discuss those differences and provide examples of applications, for local and systemic drug delivery. I will outline a number of challenges of interest in particulate drug delivery.

Drug Delivery Systems↗
PubMed2007

On the suitability of nanocrystalline ferrites as a magnetic carrier for drug delivery: functionalization, conjugation and drug release kinetics.

Superparamagnetic nickel ferrite nanoparticles functionalized with polyvinyl alcohol, polyethylene oxide and polymethacrylic acid (PMAA) polymers and subsequently conjugated with doxorubicin anti-cancer drug are studied for their use as a magnetic carrier for drug delivery. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy enabled examination of the ability of the nanoparticles to be functionalized with polymers and conjugated with doxorubicin drug. The functionalized polymer-coated nanocrystalline nickel ferrites retain the magnetic characteristics of non-functionalized nanocrystalline nickel ferrites (superparamagnetism, absence of hysteresis, remanence and coercivity at room temperature), encouraging their application as a magnetic carrier for drug delivery. The PMAA-coated nanoferrites are demonstrated as being a potentially superior magnetically targeted drug carrier based on FTIR results and drug release kinetics in the absence and presence of an external magnetic field.

Drug Delivery Systems↗
PubMed2007

Internalization of novel non-viral vector TAT-streptavidin into human cells.

BACKGROUND: The cell-penetrating peptide derived from the Human immunodeficiency virus-1 transactivator protein Tat possesses the capacity to promote the effective uptake of various cargo molecules across the plasma membrane in vitro and in vivo. The objective of this study was to characterize the uptake and delivery mechanisms of a novel streptavidin fusion construct, TAT47-57-streptavidin (TAT-SA, 60 kD). SA represents a potentially useful TAT-fusion partner due to its ability to perform as a versatile intracellular delivery vector for a wide array of biotinylated molecules or cargoes. RESULTS: By confocal and immunoelectron microscopy the majority of internalized TAT-SA was shown to accumulate in perinuclear vesicles in both cancer and non-cancer cell lines. The uptake studies in living cells with various fluorescent endocytic markers and inhibiting agents suggested that TAT-SA is internalized into cells efficiently, using both clathrin-mediated endocytosis and lipid-raft-mediated macropinocytosis. When endosomal release of TAT-SA was enhanced through the incorporation of a biotinylated, pH-responsive polymer poly(propylacrylic acid) (PPAA), nuclear localization of TAT-SA and TAT-SA bound to biotin was markedly improved. Additionally, no significant cytotoxicity was detected in the TAT-SA constructs. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that TAT-SA-PPAA is a potential non-viral vector to be utilized in protein therapeutics to deliver biotinylated molecules both into cytoplasm and nucleus of human cells.

Drug Delivery Systems↗