SemBioSys' plant-derived Apo AI(Milano) demonstrates encouraging biologic activity in seven preclini...( CALGARY May 19 / SemBioSys Genetics I...)

CALGARY, May 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - SemBioSys Genetics Inc. (TSX:SBS), specializing in the manufacture of high-value proteins and oils in plant seeds, today reported encouraging data from the Company's Apo AI(Milano) development program. Results from recent preclinical studies show that SemBioSys' plant-derived Apo AI(Milano) has exhibited the appropriate biological activity, including the ability to reduce overall plaque volume.

New data from two of the largest and most detailed studies, of the seven completed to date, have just been reported from a collaboration between SemBioSys and Prediman K. Shah, MD and colleagues at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles, CA. Shah, a cardiologist and cardiovascular researcher, is a leading authority on apolipoproteins and cardiovascular health and the first researcher to demonstrate the effects of Apo AI(Milano) in whole animal models.

In Dr. Shah's laboratory, two types of whole animal model experiments were performed using hypercholesterolemic mice (mice with high levels of atherosclerosis resulting from a high fat diet) in order to determine the effects of SemBioSys' plant-made Apo AI(Milano). Single injection, short-term studies on cholesterol mobilization and plaque lipid content were conducted, as well as, longer-term, multiple injection studies on the extent of atherosclerotic lesion accumulation. Both experiments confirmed anti-atherosclerotic effects of plant-derived Apo AI(Milano) in the regulation of cholesterol mobilization from the arterial wall, in the lipid content of atherosclerotic plaques, and in the reduction of overall volume of atherosclerotic plaque after multiple injections. Full results of the studies will be submitted to an upcoming scientific conference.

Additional in vitro cellular assays have also demonstrated the desired ability of SemBioSys' Apo AI(Milano) to remove cholesterol from various cell types. In all, seven different types of experiments have bee
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