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The present invention relates to methods for identifying compounds that modulate untranslated region-dependent expression of a target gene. The invention particularly relates to using untranslated regions of a target gene or fragments thereof linked to a reporter gene to identify compounds that modu

The present invention relates to methods for identifying compounds that modulate untranslated region-dependent expression of a target gene. The invention particularly relates to using untranslated regions of a target gene or fragments thereof linked to a reporter gene to identify compounds that modulate untranslated region-dependent expression of a target gene. The methods of the present invention provide a simple, sensitive assay for high-throughput screening of libraries of compounds to identify pharmaceutical leads.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A method for identifying a compound that modulates human vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA translation that is regulated by the untranslated regions (UTRs) of the human VEGF mRNA, said method comprising: (a) contacting a compound with a first human cell engineered to express a first

1. A method for identifying a compound that modulates human vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA translation that is regulated by the untranslated regions (UTRs) of the human VEGF mRNA, said method comprising: (a) contacting a compound with a first human cell engineered to express a first reporter protein translated from a first mRNA transcript comprising a first reporter gene coding sequence operably linked to a first full-length 5′ UTR and a first full-length 3′ UTR of the human VEGF mRNA, wherein the first 5′ UTR is upstream of the first reporter gene coding sequence and the first 3′ UTR is downstream of the first reporter gene coding sequence and, wherein the first reporter gene coding sequence is not the coding sequence of human VEGF;(b) contacting the compound with a second human cell engineered to express a second reporter protein translated from a second mRNA transcript comprising the first reporter gene coding sequence operably linked to a second 5′ UTR and a second 3′ UTR, wherein the second 5′ UTR is upstream of the first reporter Gene coding sequence and the second 3′ UTR is downstream of the first reporter gene coding sequence, and wherein the second 5′ UTR and the second 3′ UTR are each from an mRNA, different than the 5′ UTR and the 3′ UTR of the human VEGF mRNA; and(c) detecting the level of expression of the first and second reporter proteins, wherein (i) an alteration in the level of expression of the first reporter protein in the presence of the compound relative to the level of expression of the first reporter protein in the absence of the compound or the presence of a negative control, and (ii) no alteration in or not a substantially altered level of expression of the second reporter protein in the presence of the compound relative to the level of expression of the second reporter protein in the absence of the compound or the presence of the negative control indicates that the compound modulates human VEGF mRNA translation that is regulated by the UTRs of the human VEGF mRNA. 2. A method for identifying a compound that modulates human vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA translation that is regulated by the untranslated regions (UTRs) of the human VEGF mRNA, said method comprising: (a) contacting a compound with a first human cell engineered to express a first reporter protein translated from a first mRNA transcript comprising a first reporter gene coding sequence operably linked to a first full-length 5′ UTR and a first full-length 3′ UTR of the human VEGF mRNA and the first 5′ UTR is upstream of the first reporter gene coding sequence and the first 3′ UTR is downstream of the first reporter gene coding sequence, wherein the first reporter gene coding sequence is not the coding sequence of human VEGF;(b) contacting the compound with human cells in a plurality of wells, wherein each well is isolated from another well and the human cells in each well are engineered to express a reporter protein translated from a mRNA transcript comprising the first reporter gene coding sequence operably linked to a 5′ UTR and a 3′ UTR, wherein the 5′ UTR is upstream of the first reporter gene coding sequence and the 3′ UTR is downstream of the first reporter gene coding sequence, and wherein the 5′ UTR and the 3′ UTR are each from a mRNA, different than the 5′ UTR and the 3′ UTR of the human VEGF mRNA; and(c) detecting the level of expression of the first reporter protein and each reporter protein in each well, wherein a compound that modulates human VEGF mRNA translation that is regulated by the UTRs of the human VEGF mRNA is identified if (i) the level of expression of the first reporter protein in the presence of the compound is altered relative to the level of expression of the first reporter protein in the absence of the compound or the presence of a negative control, and (ii) the level of expression of each reporter protein in each well in the presence of the compound is not altered or not substantially altered relative to the level of expression of each reporter protein in each well in the absence of the compound or the presence of a negative control. 3. A method for identifying a compound that modulates human vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA translation that is regulated by the untranslated regions (UTRs) of the human VEGF mRNA, said method comprising: (a) contacting a compound with a first composition comprising a first cell-free translation mixture and a first mRNA transcript comprising a first reporter gene coding sequence, operably linked to a first full-length 5′ UTR and a first full-length 3′ UTR of the human VEGF mRNA and the first 5′ UTR is upstream of the first reporter gene coding sequence and the first 3′ UTR is downstream of the first reporter gene coding sequence, wherein the first reporter gene coding sequence is not the coding sequence of human VEGF;(b) contacting the compound with a second composition comprising a second cell-free translation mixture and a second mRNA transcript comprising the first reporter gene coding sequence, operably linked to a second 5′ UTR and a second 3′ UTR, wherein the second 5′ UTR is upstream of the first reporter gene coding sequence and the second 3′ UTR is downstream of the first reporter gene coding sequence; and, wherein the second 5′ UTR and the second 3′ UTR are each from a mRNA, different than the 5′ UTR and the 3′ UTR of the human VEGF mRNA; and(c) detecting the level of expression of the first and second reporter proteins translated from the first and second mRNA transcripts, respectively, wherein (i) an alteration in the level of expression of the first reporter protein in the presence of the compound relative to the level of expression of the first reporter protein in the absence of the compound or the presence of a negative control, and (ii) no alteration in or not a substantially altered level of expression of the second reporter protein in the presence of the compound relative to the level of expression of the second reporter protein in the absence of the compound or the presence of the negative control indicates that the compound modulates human VEGF mRNA translation that is regulated by the UTRs of the human VEGF mRNA. 4. The method of claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the compound does not alter human VEGF mRNA levels. 5. The method of claim 1 or 3, wherein the first and second reporter proteins are firefly luciferase, renilla luciferase, click beetle luciferase, green fluorescent protein, yellow fluorescent protein, red fluorescent protein, cyan fluorescent protein, blue fluorescent protein, beta-galactosidase, beta-glucoronidase, beta-lactamase, chloramphenicol acetyltransferase, or alkaline phosphatase. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second human cells are engineered to stably express the first and second reporter proteins. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second human cells are engineered to transiently express the first and second reporter proteins. 8. The method of claim 1, 2, or 3 further comprising measuring the effect of the compound on the level of expression of the human VEGF protein. 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second human cells are a HeLa cell or a 293 cell. 10. The method of claim 3, wherein the first and second cell-free translation mixtures are cell extracts derived from a human cell, a yeast cell, a mouse cell, a rat cell, a Chinese hamster ovary (“CHO”) cell, a Xenopus oocyte, a primary cell, an undifferentiated cancer cell, or a rye embryo. 11. The method of claim 1, 2 or 3 further comprising (c) determining the structure of the compound. 12. The method of claim 5, wherein the structure of the compound is determined by mass spectroscopy, NMR, vibrational spectroscopy, or X-ray crystallography. 13. The method of claim 1 or 3, wherein the alteration in the level of the first and second reporter proteins expressed are detected by measuring the activity of the first and second reporter proteins. 14. The method of claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the alteration in the level of the first and second reporter proteins expressed are detected by measuring the amount of the first and second reporter proteins. 15. The method of claim 1 or 3, wherein the level of expression of the first reporter protein in the presence of the compound is reduced relative to the level of expression of the first reporter protein in the absence of the compound or the presence of the negative control, and the level of expression of the second reporter protein in the presence of the compound is not altered or not substantially altered relative to the level of expression of the second reporter protein in the absence of the compound or the presence of the negative control. 16. The method of claim 2, wherein the level of expression of the first reporter protein in the presence of the compound is reduced relative to the level of expression of the first reporter protein in the absence of the compound or the presence of the negative control, and the level of expression of each reporter protein in each well in the presence of the compound is not altered or not substantially altered relative to the level of expression of each reporter protein in each well in the absence of the compound or the presence of a negative control.