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OwnerRi-Hyun Back, Thomas A. Gardner +1inventors
InventorsRi-Hyun Back, Thomas A. Gardner, Akinobu Gotoli
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The present invention relates to promoters, enhancers and other regulatory elements that direct expression within tumor cells, comprising nucleotide sequences from the 5′ regulatory region, and transcriptionally active fragments thereof, that control expression of a testicular carcinoma related protein, β-HCG. Specifically provided are expression vectors, host cells and transgenic animals wherein an β-HCG regulatory region is capable of controlling expression of a heterologous gene, over-expressing an endogenous gene or an inhibitor of a pathological process or knocking out expression of a specific gene believed to be important in cancer development and/or progression. The invention also relates to methods for using said vectors, cells and animals for screening candidate molecules for agonists and antagonists of cancer development and/or progression. The invention further relates to compositions and methods for modulating expression of compounds within tumor cells, and to screening compounds that modulate expression within tumor cells. Methods for using the molecules and compounds identified by the screening assays for therapeutic treatments also are provided.
An isolated polynucleotide comprising the nucleotide sequence depicted in FIG. 1, or a transcriptionally active fragment thereof.
A therapeutic agent comprising an β-HCG promoter, a delivery vector and a toxic, therapeutic and/or heterologous coding sequence.
A method for identifying a test compound capable of modulating tumor-specific gene expression comprising:
A method for drug delivery comprising introducing into a tumor of a subject a vector comprising an β-HCG regulatory region sequence, or transcriptionally active fragment thereof, operatively linked to a heterologous gene.
A method for treating and/or ameliorating a cancer or other proliferative disorder comprising introducing into a cell of said cancer or other proliferative disorder of a subject a vector comprising an β-HCG regulatory region sequence, or transcriptionally active fragment thereof, a delivery vector and a toxic, therapeutic and/or heterologous coding sequence whose gene product is capable of killing said cell.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.