Fusion proteins based upon somatostatin receptors
AssigneeBoard of Regents, The University of Texas System
InventorVikas Kundra
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Abstract
The present invention is directed to fusion proteins that can be used to assay gene transfer and expression both in vitro and in vivo. The fusion proteins contain a reporter protein, e.g. a somatostatin receptor, fused to a second protein, which may be a protein fusion tag. Alternatively, a fusion protein may be fused to a leader sequence. A leader sequence may localize an expressed protein, e.g. localize a fusion protein to the cell membrane. The invention includes nucleic acids encoding the fusion proteins and methods of assaying for gene expression.
Claims36
A fusion protein comprising:
- a) a polypeptide comprising a reporter amino acid sequence;
- b) a second polypeptide fused to said reporter amino acid sequence;
- and
- c) a leader sequence fused to a terminus of said fusion protein.
A DNA construct comprising segments encoding:
- a) a reporter protein;
- and
- b) a second polypeptide fused to said receptor, wherein said second polypeptide provides a tag for independently quantitating the expression of said fusion protein.
An imaging method comprising detecting the expression of somatostatin fusion protein in vivo.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.