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US 2016/0237490 A1Published application
Super-enhancers and methods of use thereof
AssigneeWhitehead Institute for Biomedical Research
InventorsDenes Hnisz, Brian Abraham, Tong Ihn Lee, Richard A. Young
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Abstract
The present invention relates in some aspects to super-enhancers and related compositions, methods, and agents that are useful for modulating expression of cell type-specific genes that are required for maintenance of cell identity (e.g., embryonic stem cell identity) or maintenance of a disease state (e.g., cancer).
Claims1
A method of identifying a super enhancer, or functional fragment or variant thereof, in a cell, comprising:
- (a) identifying a genomic region of DNA within said cell characterized by a cluster of enhancers each of which bind a cognate transcription factor capable of interacting with Mediator to stimulate transcription of a target gene within said cell;
- (b) measuring in the identified genomic region a level of a super-enhancer component by evaluation of a surrogate mark of histone;
- and (c) identifying the genomic region as a super enhancer, or functional fragment or variant thereof, if the level of a surrogate mark of histone is greater than the level of a surrogate mark of histone occupying the average single enhancer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.