Modified PE40 toxin fusion proteins
AssigneeMerck & Co., Inc.
InventorsAllen I. Oliff, Gwynneth M. Edwards, Deborah D. Jones
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Abstract
We have modified PE40 toxin by removing at least two of its four cysteine amino acid residues and have formed hybrid molecules containing modified PE40 linked to a cell recognition protein that can be an antibody, a growth factor, a hormone, a lymphokine, or another polypeptide cell recognition protein for which a specific cellular receptor exists whereby the modified PE40 toxin is directed to cell types having receptors for the cell recognition protein linked to the modified PE40.
Claims7
A hybrid protein comprising a PE40 domain and a protein targeting domain that is a growth factor or a hormone, the PE40 domain modified by replacement of at least two cysteine residues by the corresponding number of alanine residues.
A hybrid protein TGFαPE40ab wherein all cysteine residues at loci a and b are each replaced by an alanine residue.
A hybrid protein TGFαPE40aB wherein the cysteine residues at loci a are each replaced by an alanine residue.
A hybrid protein TGFαPE40Ab wherein the cysteine residues at loci b are each replaced by an alanine residue.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.