Replication conditional virus that specifically kills senescent cells
AssigneesUnity Biotechnology, Inc., Kythera Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.
InventorsSerge Lichtsteiner, Nathaniel David
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Abstract
Polypeptides, viruses, methods and compositions provided herein are useful for the selective elimination of senescent cells. Method aspects include methods for inducing apoptosis in a senescent cell comprising administering to the cell a polynucleotide, virus, host cell, or pharmaceutical composition described herein. Other methods include expressing a pro-apoptotic gene in a senescent cell comprising administering to the cell the polynucleotide, virus, or pharmaceutical composition as described herein.
Claims8
A senolytic virus, defined as a conditionally replicating virus having a recombinant genome construct in which a replication gene for the virus is placed under transcriptional control of one or more heterologous promoters,
- wherein one of the heterologous promoters is the p16 promoter,
- wherein when the senolytic virus is applied to a mixed cell population comprising senescent cells, the p16 promoter causes the virus to replicate preferentially in the senescent cells, thereby causing lysis of the senescent cells and selectively depleting them from the cell population.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.