Description of Invention:
The identification of genes has traditionally been accomplished through the use of nucleic acid hybridization. In general, highly conserved sequences or DNA structures which are associated with a particular function or gene family are used in hybridization techniques in order to discover other related genes and associated polypeptide products. This is accomplished by construction of nucleic acid probes corresponding to those conserved DNA sequences of interest. The present invention involves "expression cloning," and provides an alternative method of isolating genes of interest by using the expression of the polypeptide corresponding to that gene as a means of screening clones containing the gene. The invention describes methods of detecting clones containing the functional polypeptide either directly, or through immunological methods. The invention further describes a new dual specificity protein tyrosine phosphatase, called VHR, discovered using this method. This phosphatase is structurally unrelated to other commonly known enzymes with similar function and provides support for the invention's utility. The invention also describes methods for treatment of VHR related disease. This invention is ideally suited for use in the isolation of previously unknown genes with similar functions of interest. The invention allows isolation of fewer false positive clones because DNA sequences with areas of high structural homology but dissimilar function, will not be identified. The invention, in contrast, favors the isolation of clones which are structurally disparate, yet functionally equivalent.
Inventors:
SA Aaronson (NCI) DP Bottaro (NCI) T Ishibashi (NCI) T Miki (NCI)
Portfolios: Gene Based Therapies Devices/Instrumentation
Devices/Instrumentation-Diagnostics-Physical Medicine Devices/Instrumentation-Research Materials-Methods of Using Research Tools Devices/Instrumentation-Research Materials-Biologicals and Chemicals Devices/Instrumentation-Diagnostics Devices/Instrumentation-Research Materials Gene Based Therapies -Diagnostics Gene Based Therapies -Research Materials
For Additional Information Please Contact: Susan S. Rucker J.D.
NIH Office of Technology Transfer
6011 Executive Blvd, Suite 325
Rockville, MD 20852-3804
Phone: (301) 435-4478
Email: ruckersu@mail.nih.gov
Fax: (301) 402-0220
