SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Sept. 12, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VG Life Sciences, (OTC Pink:VGLS) a biotechnology company, announces that one of its scientific advisors, Dr. Brett Mitchell, PhD, will give an oral presentation today on his preeclampsia research at the American Heart Association Council for High Blood Pressure Research Conference in San Francisco, California. Using pregnant mice who cannot genetically display MHC Class II invariant chain (CD74), the research showed the mice do not develop preeclampsia.
The title of the presentation is "CD74 Deficient Mice are Resistant to Toll-Like Receptor-Induced Preeclampsia".
This research is part of a $140,000 American Heart Association grant to Dr. Mitchell and Dr. M. Karen Newell-Rogers, PhD, VG Life Sciences Inc.'s Chief Scientific Advisor. This was reported by VG Life Sciences on July 25, 2013.
Preeclampsia is characterized by the de novo onset of hypertension and proteinuria; it is one of the most common medical disorders during pregnancy, affecting ~8% of all pregnancies world-wide.
"These new findings reinforce our previous work showing that peptide-mediated removal of CLIP both prevents and treats experimental preeclampsia and further supports the notion that CLIP plays an important role in the development of this disease and is a promising therapeutic target," said Mitchell.
The removal of CLIP in previous experiments used VG Life Sciences' patented drug VG1177, which is undergoing pre-clinical animal safety trials at ITR Laboratories in Montreal, Canada.
Preliminary data in mice indicate that VG1177 treatment not only prevented the development of preeclampsia, but also abolished preeclampsia after it had been established as blood pressure and urinary protein levels were normalized.
"In conclusion, CD74 is crucial for the development of TLR-induced preeclampsia-like symptoms in mice and CD74/CLIP depletion may be a promising therapeutic target for women with preeclampsia," said Mitchell.
Dr. Mitchell is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine in the Cardiovascular Research Institute (CVRI) at Texas A &M University College of Medicine.
About VG Life Sciences Inc.
Santa Barbara, California-based VG Life Sciences Inc., formerly known as Viral Genetics, is a biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing drug therapies for cancer, infectious disease, and inflammatory, autoimmune disorders. VG Life Sciences controls over 45 US and international patents and pending patents protecting its exclusive biotech platform technologies.
For more information and upcoming events, visit www.vglifesciences.com or find VG Life Sciences Inc. on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Safe Harbor Statement and Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties associated with financial projections, milestone timelines, clinical development, regulatory approvals and other risks described by VG Life Sciences from time to time in its periodic reports. None of VG Life Sciences' drug compounds are approved by the US FDA or by any comparable regulatory agencies elsewhere in the world. Therefore, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements included in this release will prove to be accurate. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking statements included herein, the forward-looking statements should not be regarded as a representation by VG Life Sciences or any other person that the objectives and plans of VG Life Sciences will be achieved.
Allison Trabucco, Corporate Communications VG Life Sciences, Inc. Phone: (805) 679-6786 Email:
