Telomerase reverse transcriptase fragments and uses thereof

Patent Number: 7,294,708

Telomerase reverse transcriptase is an enzyme that transcribes the telomerase RNA component into telomeric DNA in order to replenish telomeric loss associated with cellular proliferation. The activity of telomerase is absent in most adult cells with the exception of stem cells and tumor cells. Accordingly, one possible method of blocking tumor cells is to inhibit their telomerase activity. Various companies such as Geron and Pharmexa-Epimmune are using the immune system to target cells that express telomerase components. In the current patent a different approach is taken to inhibiting telomerase activity.

The current patent covers telomerase reverse transcriptase carboxyl terminal fragments (TERTC). These fragments serve to inhibit the telomere protective effect of the wild-type C-terminus polypeptides found on telomerase reverse transcriptase. Essentially, the peptide fragments covered by the patent lead to accelerated senescence and death of cell lines expressing telomerase.

In the examples section the inventors demonstrate inhibition of HeLa cells both in vitro and in vivo by administration of the peptides covered in the invention. Although this approach appears very exciting, the question of what such telomerase inhibition will do to non-malignant stem cells remains to be answered.

View this patent on the USPTO website.