[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 43 (Friday, March 5, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Page 10667]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-5420]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


Government-Owned Inventions; Availability for Licensing

AGENCY: National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, DHHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The invention listed below is owned by an agency of the U.S. 
Government and is available for licensing in the U.S. in accordance 
with 35 U.S.C. 207 to achieve expeditious commercialization of results 
of federally funded research and development.

ADDRESSES: Licensing information and a copy of the U.S. patent 
application referenced below may be obtained by contacting J.R. Dixon, 
Ph.D., at the Office of Technology Transfer, National Institutes of 
Health, 6011 Executive Boulevard, Suite 325, Rockville, Maryland 20852-
3804 (telephone 301/496-7056 ext 206; fax 301/402-0220; E-Mail: 
[email protected]). A signed Confidential Disclosure Agreement is required 
to receive a copy of any patent application.
    Entitled: Transcription Factor Decoy and Tumor Growth Inhibitor.
    Inventor: Dr. Yoon S. Cho-Chung (NCI) U.S.P.A. 08/977,643--Filed 
November 24, 1997.
    Alteration of gene transcription by inhibition of specific 
transcriptional regulatory proteins has important therapeutic 
potential. Synthetic double-stranded phosphorothioate oligonucleotides 
with high affinity for a target transcription factor can be introduced 
into cells as decoy cis-elements to bind the factors and alter gene 
expression. The CRE (cyclic AMP response element)--transcription factor 
complex is a pleiotropic activator that participates in the induction 
of a wide variety of cellular and viral genes. Because the CRE cis-
element, TGACGTCA, is palindromic, a synthetic single-stranded 
oligonucleotide composed of the CRE sequence self-hybridizes to form a 
duplex/hairpin. The CRE-palindromic oligonucleotide can penetrate into 
cells, compete with CRE enhancers for binding transcription factors, 
and specifically interfere with CRE- and AP-1-directed transcription in 
vivo. These oligonucleotides restrained tumor cell proliferation, 
without affecting the growth of noncancerous cells. This decoy 
oligonucleotide approach offers great promise as a tool for defining 
cellular regulatory processes and treating cancer and other diseases.
    This research has been published in J. Biol. Chem. 274, 1573-1580 
(1999).
    This invention is available for licensing on an exclusive or non-
exclusive basis.

    Dated: February 24, 1999.
Jack Spiegel,
Director, Division of Technology Development and Transfer, Office of 
Technology Transfer.
[FR Doc. 99-5420 Filed 3-4-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-M