( 98th Annual Meeting of the American Ass...)Lorus Therapeutics Announces Scientific Presentations for Lead,Antisense and siRNA Drug Candidates at International Cancer,Conference,Health

TORONTO, April 17, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Lorus Therapeutics Inc. ("Lorus") today announced presentation of research on their lead antisense and siRNA compounds at the 98th Annual Meeting of the AACR in Los Angeles, CA, April 14-18, 2007.

The first presentation titled, "Determination of optimized administration schedule of GTI-2040 and docetaxel combination treatment for NSCLC cells in vitro and in vivo," was presented on April 15, 2007.

This research determined a new optimal dosing schedule of GTI-2040 and docetaxel, which resulted in greatly enhanced synergy when docetaxel was given 48 hours after GTI-2040 compared to concomitant administration. This strong synergy was seen in vivo even after a single dose of GTI-2040. The discovery that administration of GTI-2040 prior to docetaxel is associated with this synergy, possibly through a 'stressor' effect due to decreased levels of R2 target expression, may potentially apply to other GTI-2040 combinations as well. This new sequential dose strategy will be an important consideration to maximize efficacy in the GTI-2040 clinical program.

The second presentation titled, "siRNAs targeting the R2 subunit of human ribonucleotide reductase exhibit in vitro and in vivo antitumor activity," will be presented on April 17, 2007.

In this research, Lorus screened a series of siRNAs to select a lead drug candidate, siRNA-1284. siRNA-1284 demonstrated potent antiproliferative and antitumor activity both in vitro and in vivo, coinciding with specific target silencing. These data warrant further development of siRNA-1284 as an anticancer agent. Lorus is also pursuing other cancer targets with its siRNA platform technology to screen and evaluate novel siRNA drug candidates.

"The research announced today provides important supporting data for Lorus' drug development
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