Eleos' lead therapeutic Aezea inhibits the production of p53.

Because of the important role this protein plays in cancer, the journal Science chose p53 as its Molecule of the Year in 1993. Since that time, p53 has become one of the most widely studied molecules in medicine. As a result, there is an exceptionally large amount of scientific support for the therapeutic usefulness of inhibiting p53 in cancer.

The basic function of p53 is to cleanse the body of cells that have become genetically defective.

This can be achieved by either 1. Cell Death (cell kills itself and flushes out) or 2. Cell Repair (cell repairs its defects and resumes its functions).

Both cancer and normal cells suffer DNA damage as a result of radiation and chemotherapy treatments. When such damage occurs and p53 is activated, normal cells will typically die and cancer cells will typically self-repair.
Aezea® is designed to reverse these typical responses by blocking the activation of p53 in damaged cells.

For example, when a cancer cell with functionally normal p53 sustains genomic damage, it is more likely to pause and repair itself than to die. This is, in part, because normal p53 stimulates the cell to do so.

Once the cell completes its p53-dependent arrest and repair process, it can again begin to proliferate.

In addition to using p53, a cancer cell defends itself with hyperactive protective factors. These are growth factor-related molecules that push the cell to proliferate rather than to die.

When a cancer cell with functionally normal p53 has that protein blocked with Aezea and sustains genomic damage, it is more likely to die than to repair itself.

This is because p53 is no longer available to perform its normal functions, and the cell cannot arrest its proliferation and repair the damage sustained.

Hyperactive protective factors drive it to proliferate and the cell continues to replicate its damaged DNA, increasing the damage in the process. Replicating damaged DNA triggers a p53-independent backup pathway, and the cancer cell dies.
Numerous academic laboratories have used a variety of techniques and genetic engineering methods to block normal p53 function in an array of cancer types. The common result is that blocking p53 greatly increases the vulnerability of cancer to the killing effects of radiation and chemotherapy.
Dual-Purpose Therapeutic

In addition to sensitizing cancer cells to the killing effects of standard treatments, blocking p53 has been shown to make normal cells remarkably more resistant to radiation and chemotherapy toxicities. Using both drug and genetic approaches, laboratory studies have demonstrated that when p53 is blocked, certain normal cell types are protected from the effects of DNA damage.

Blocking p53 has been shown to prevent the death of bone marrow, gastrointestinal cells, and hair follicles.

Therefore, as a cancer therapeutic, Eleos' Aezea is designed to both sensitize cancer to the killing effects of standard treatments and to protect patients from the toxic effects these treatments often cause. No other known compound has the potential to achieve these complementary effects.
Platform Therapeutic

p53 remains a focus of medical research and its involvement continues to be demonstrated in numerous diseases and disorders in addition to cancer.

Major medical conditions in which p53 plays a role include heart failure, ischemia-reperfusion injury, hard-to-heal wounds, transplant rejection, neurodegenerative disorders, and certain viral diseases such as AIDS.

Eleos therefore expects the therapeutic usefulness of Aezea to extend well beyond its application in cancer.