Reneuron Regulatory News (RENE)

ReNeuron Group plc

ReNeuron presents positive pre-clinical data with its ExoPr0 exosome cancer therapy candidate at major scientific conference

Data show that ExoPr0 can inhibit proliferation in a diverse panel of cancer cell lines

ReNeuron Group plc (the "Company") (AIM: RENE), a UK-based global leader in the development of cell-based therapeutics, is pleased to announce that it will today be presenting further new positive pre-clinical data relating to its ExoPr0 CTX cell-derived exosome therapy candidate at the American Society for Exosomes and Microvesicles (ASEMV) 2017 Annual Meeting in San Francisco, a leading scientific conference.

The data reveal that a number of tumour-derived cell lines showed a significant reduction in proliferation when treated with ExoPr0 and provide important proof-of-concept data indicating that ReNeuron's ExoPr0 exosome therapy candidate could have broad applicability as an anti-cancer therapy.

Professor Karol Sikora, a leading UK-based oncologist and an adviser to ReNeuron, said:

"This is a novel and completely unexplored strategy for selectively targeting the growth of cancer cells. Its effectiveness against a range of cells from different tumour types is intriguing and warrants further investigation. We need to understand the molecular mechanisms involved and how to enhance them. This work has the potential to uncover a whole new area in cancer therapeutics."

Dr Randolph Corteling, Head of Research at ReNeuron, said:

"We are very encouraged by the data being presented at the ASEMV 2017 conference relating to our ExoPr0 exosome therapy candidate. These latest findings relating to the anti-cancer potential of ExoPr0 builds upon data presented earlier this year relating to the characterisation and scale-up potential of ExoPr0 and the ability to deliver ExoPr0 by local or systemic administration to target specific organs. Taken together, this already substantial body of pre-clinical evidence clearly demonstrates the potential of this novel therapeutic platform to target multiple diseases, including cancer."

In a poster and platform presentation at the conference, ReNeuron researchers will describe studies undertaken in collaboration with the Company's academic collaborators at Queen Mary University London. The studies were supported by a grant from the UK's innovation agency, Innovate UK, and utilised a high-throughput approach to screen a panel of cancer cell lines for response to ExoPr0 treatment.  In a subset of cell lines, the response was due to the induction of apoptosis (cell death). In a separate group of cell lines, induction of senescence was observed in response to ExoPr0. These effects were noted to be dose-dependent, with higher doses of ExoPr0 eliciting a greater effect. Further work to understand the mechanism of action of these effects is ongoing.

ReNeuron has identified the potential of ExoPr0 as both a novel therapeutic candidate and as a drug delivery vehicle, based on earlier research to demonstrate the ability of ExoPr0 to modulate fibroblasts, immune cells and cancer cell lines in vitro. This earlier work, together with the new pre-clinical findings described above, suggest that there is significant potential to develop ExoPr0 for the treatment of multiple diseases, including solid tumours.

The ASEMV 2017 meeting is taking place in San Francisco, 8-12 October 2017. Further information about the meeting can be found at www.asemv.org/meetings

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About ReNeuron

ReNeuron is a leading, clinical-stage cell therapy development company. Based in the UK, its primary objective is the development of novel cell-based therapies targeting areas of significant unmet or poorly met medical need.

ReNeuron has used its unique stem cell technologies to develop cell-based therapies for significant disease conditions where the cells can be readily administered "off-the-shelf" to any eligible patient without the need for additional immunosuppressive drug treatments. The Company has therapeutic candidates in clinical development for disability as a result of stroke, for critical limb ischaemia and for the blindness-causing disease, retinitis pigmentosa.

ReNeuron is also advancing its proprietary exosome technology platform as a potential new nanomedicine targeting cancer and as a potential delivery system for drugs that would otherwise lack adequate capacity to penetrate to their site of action.

ReNeuron's shares are traded on the London AIM market under the symbol RENE.L. Further information on ReNeuron and its products can be found at www.reneuron.com.