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CUBA, November 15, 2006.- A new synthetic product with anti-tumor properties has been patented by a team of scientists from Cuba’s Center of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB). The first phase of the clinical trials was completed with 31 patients with cervical cancer. Silvio E. Perea Rodriguez, a doctor in Biological Sciences, presented the test results during the Biotechnology Havana 2006 convention. He explained to the audience that the product is a peptide that inhibits and kills the kinase CK2 enzyme, found in high levels in malignant tumors. Doctor Perea, head of the Molecular Oncology project of the CIGB, explained that the product is now known by the code number CIGB-300.The National Toxicology Center evaluated the safety of its use in humans during the first exploratory trial with 31 women. It showed that the secondary reactions have less impact when compared with conventional therapy. The scientist highlighted that the patent was achieved with the effort of a group of researchers in different areas of the CIGB. The Biotechnology Havana 2006 convention is being attended by biotech specialists from more than 40 countries including Dr. Harold Jennings, pioneer in the research with vaccines based upon capsular bacterial polysaccharides. A group of twelve researchers from the United States could not attend this scientific exchange because they were denied a license to travel to Cuba from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, due to the restrictions that the US blockade imposes on trips to the island. (Cubaminrex-Granma)
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