“Forbes” has cited Israeli start-up Rosetta Genomics Ltd. in an article on junk DNA “Forbes” writes that Rosetta Genomics is focusing on microRNA, a promising target discovered in junk DNA only five years ago.
Rosetta Genomics is one of the few commercial companies conducting research on microRNA. Founded in 2000, the company has registered patents on 200 microRNA molecules. “Forbes” quotes Rosetta Genomics chairman Isaac Bentwich as saying that dark DNA may be even more important than active genes in causing disease. He hopes for new treatments and diagnostic tools for lung cancer, prostate cancer and other diseases.
Junk DNA, also called “dark DNA” does not actively encode proteins. The Human Genome Project, completed in 2001, did not map junk DNA. “Forbes” writes, “But researchers are now finding this junk DNA, overlooked for decades by geneticists, may actually not be junk at all. They are finding hints of an enormous and previously unimagined command-and-control apparatus that regulates what our 25,000 genes do and how the body is assembled. Junk DNA, when it goes wrong, may be a culprit in major killers, ranging from cancer to diabetes to infectious disease.”
“Forbes” quotes David Haussler, a Howard Hughes investigator at UC, Santa Cruz, as saying, "This will revolutionize human genetics over the next few decades.” Haussler predicts that most disease-causing genetic flaws will be found lurking in our junk DNA.
It now appears that some junk DNA is encoded by microRNA, which activates or shuts down, other protein-inducing genes. For example, microRNA 375, can block insulin secretion and may be involved in diabetes. Another, microRNA 122, is found in the liver and is used by the hepatitis C virus to help it replicate; it could be a target for future drugs for the disease.
“Forbes” writes that microRNA is also involved in a small part of junk DNA activity, and that dark DNA may contain breakthroughs in many areas of medicine.
Bentwich founded the company, which has raised $16 million to date. Investors include Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq:TEVA; TASE:TEVA), Leon Recanati, Yair Shamir, Moshe (Mori) Arkin, and Usia Galil. Six months ago, Rosetta signed an important contract with Ambion, a leading US biotechnology company, for a collaborative licensing agreement that will provide Ambion access to proprietary microRNA sequences discovered and owned by Rosetta Genomics.
Rosetta Genomics’ science advisory board includes Nobel Prize laureate in Chemistry (2004) Prof. Aaron Ciechanover, former Weizmann Institute of Science president Prof. Michael Sela, Hadassah University Hospital’s Goldyne Savad Gene Therapy Institute director Prof. Eithan Galun, and, its newest member, former head of US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) science board Dr. Robert Langer.
Rosetta Genomics is the second company founded by Bentwich. He sold Pegasus Medical to HBOC for $15 million in 1995.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on November 27, 2005