Sierra Sciences holds U.S. Patent #7,279,328 for discovering "Site C" in 2001. "Site C" is a repressor binding site that blocks the expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase ("TERT"). The discovery is a result of extensive research on the minimized human telomerase promoter region involving 118 deletions and hundred of point mutations. Deleting or altering bases of DNA at this region will de-repress the expression of telomerase in a human cell. Sierra Sciences is trying to compound that will affect the protein binding to this site, which should also de-reperess telomeres in our cells.
To read the patent in PDF format, please click here.
In 2005, Sierra Sciences developed the Mutant hTR assay, which was crucial to allowing the company to efficiently check a variety of compounds to determine if they exhibit de-repression of HTERT.
Telomerase typically adds bases to the ends of our chromosomes in the normal telomere sequency, "TTAAGGG." We discovered that if the RNA component of telomerase was manipulated to cause the enzyme to add bases in the sequency "CTAGCG," expression of telomerase would strongly inhibit cell growth.
By comparing the effect of a non-toxic compound on normal cells and on cells expressing mutant hTR, we were able to determine whether the compound caused the expression of hTR: if the cell growth was normal in the wild-type cells and strongly inhibited in the mutant cells, the compound was a candidate for being a drug that causes telomerase expression.
Sierra Sciences holds U.S. patent #7,226,744 for the Mutant hTR assay.
The Mutant hTR Assay in PDF format:here
Scientists at Sierra Sciences created posters summarizing their research in the field of telomerase biology for the UABBA Conference, June 2008.
Click on the links to the left to view individual posters that were presented. The posters are meant to be interactive-click on the links to view an individual poster at a larger size.
