Sigma® Life Science Launches Genetically Modified Human Cell Lines for Breast Cancer Research

ST. LOUIS, July 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Sigma Life Science, the innovative biological products and services research business of Sigma-Aldrich® (Nasdaq: SIAL), today announced the expansion of its CompoZr® Oncology Disease Model portfolio with the release of the first in its collection of breast cancer-specific knockout and knockin cell lines for drug discovery and research. These modified epithelial cell lines are expected to provide researchers with a characterized and known genetic background for basic research and pathway analysis. They are supplied with isogenic parental cell lines to allow high throughput, cell-based screening for drug discovery, target validation and mechanistic studies. For more information, visit www.sigma.com/breastcancercells.

Important breast cancer genes – such as Estrogen Receptor, PTEN and HER2 – have been targeted using Sigma Life Science's proprietary Zinc Finger Nuclease (ZFN) technology, to create stable and heritable genomic knockouts and to provide new cellular models of cancer. These modified human epithelial cell lines, including MCF10A, among others, offer researchers the complete knockout of disease-relevant target gene expression.

Supriya Shivakumar, Global Marketing Manager at Sigma Life Science, said, "These new knockout breast cancer cell lines, created using Sigma's ground-breaking CompoZr® ZFN technology, are expected to be ideal for high throughput screens to determine whether patient-relevant genetic alterations affect drug sensitivity or drug resistance. Researchers now have immediate access to high-quality knockout isogenic human cell lines, which should reduce the costs and labor required for basic research and drug discovery, and could accelerate the development of personalized medicine."

Cautionary statement: The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology such as "expected," "offers," "can," "should" or similar expressions, or by expressed or implied discussions regarding potential future revenues from products derived therefrom. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. There can be no guarantee that the CompoZr Oncology Disease Model products described herein will assist the Company to achieve any particular levels of revenue in the future. In particular, management's expectations regarding products associated with CompoZr Oncology Disease Model products could be affected by, among other things, unexpected regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; the Company's ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection; competition in general; government, industry and general public pricing pressures; the impact that the foregoing factors could have on the values attributed to the Company's assets and liabilities as recorded in its consolidated balance sheet, and other risks and factors referred to in Sigma-Aldrich's current Form 10-K on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Sigma-Aldrich is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Sigma Life Science: Sigma Life Science is a Sigma-Aldrich business that represents the Company's leadership in innovative biological products and services for the global life science market and offers an array of biologically-rich products and reagents that researchers use in scientific investigation. Product areas include biomolecules, genomics and functional genomics, cells and cell-based assays, transgenics, protein assays, stem cell research, epigenetics and custom services/oligonucleotides. Sigma Life Science also provides an extensive range critical bioessentials like biochemicals, antibiotics, buffers, carbohydrates, enzymes, forensic tools, hematology and histology, nucleotides, amino acids and their derivatives, and cell culture media.

About Sigma-Aldrich: Sigma-Aldrich is a leading Life Science and High Technology company committed to Enabling Science to Improve the Quality of Life. Its chemical and biochemical products and kits are used in scientific research, including genomic and proteomic research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development and as key components in pharmaceutical, diagnostic and other high technology manufacturing. The Company has customers in life science companies, university and government institutions, hospitals, and in industry. Over one million scientists and technologists use its products. Sigma-Aldrich operates in 40 countries and has 8,000 employees providing excellent service worldwide. For more information about Sigma-Aldrich, please visit its award-winning Web site at http://www.sigma-aldrich.com.

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SOURCE Sigma-Aldrich