Protein enriched microvesicles and methods of making and using the same
AssigneeTakara Bio USA, Inc.
InventorsMichael Haugwitz, Thomas Patrick Quinn, Andrew Alan Farmer, Montserrat Morell Fernández
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Abstract
Protein enriched micro-vesicles and methods of making and using the same are provided. Aspects of the methods include maintaining a cell having a membrane-associated protein comprising a first dimerization domain and a target protein having a second dimerization domain under conditions sufficient to produce a micro-vesicle from the cell, wherein the micro-vesicle includes the target protein. Also provided are cells, reagents and kits that find use in making the micro-vesicles, as well as methods of using the micro-vesicles, e.g., in research and therapeutic applications.
Claims13
A method of introducing a target protein into a cell, the method comprising:
- contacting the cell with a micro-vesicle comprising:
- (a) a chimeric membrane-associated protein comprising a membrane-associated domain and a first dimerization domain, wherein the membrane-associated domain and the first dimerization domain are heterologous;
- and
- (b) a chimeric target protein comprising a second dimerization domain, wherein the target protein is not membrane-associated in the absence of the chimeric membrane-associated protein;
- wherein the first and second dimerization domains are specifically bound to each other in a dimerized complex or the first and second dimerization domains are bound to each other by a single dimerization mediator;
- under conditions sufficient for the micro-vesicle to fuse with the cell and introduce the target protein into the cell.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.