Immortalized keratinocytes, lentivirus for keratinocyte immortalization, and methods of use
AssigneeRegents of the University of Minnesota
InventorsElizabeth Louise Thompson, Jakub Tolar
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Provided herein are recombinant lentiviral vectors and methods of using the same to produce genetically modified keratinocytes that can be maintained in culture for over 100 population doubling without loss of morphological features or differentiation capacity. Immortalized keratinocytes and immortalized cell lines obtained by the methods of this disclosure are useful for studying the role of pathogenic mutations in skin disease phenotype, for screening for potential therapeutic agents, and for producing race-, sex, and age-specific epidermis for research and clinical applications.
Claims18
A replication competent lentiviral vector comprising:
- (i) a nucleic acid sequence encoding at least two proteins selected from (a) to (c):
- (a) a human TERT (hTERT) protein,
- (b) an HPV16 E7 oncoprotein, and
- (c) an HPV16 E6 oncoprotein, and
- a cleavable peptide or self-cleaving peptide;
- and
- (ii) a promoter suitable for expression in a mammalian cell,
- wherein the nucleic acid sequence of (i) is transcribed as a single transcript comprising the first protein, the cleavable peptide or self-cleaving peptide, and the second protein.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.