SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., March 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: RIGL - news) today announced the issuance of U.S. patent number 6,180,343, entitled, ``Green Fluorescent Protein Fusions with Random Peptides.'' The technology covered under this patent, which is assigned exclusively to Rigel, can be used in a variety of assays (i.e., laboratory tests), including those designed to identify novel functional targets and to map functional pathways.
The patent provides for libraries of fusion nucleic acids (FNAs) and methods of use. Each FNA includes a nucleic acid that encodes a random peptide and a nucleic acid that encodes a green fluorescent protein (GFP). The nucleic acid encoding the random peptide is incorporated into the nucleic acid encoding the GFP so that, when expressed, the GFP contains one of Rigel's unique peptides that is used as a ``probe'' to identify potential new drug targets. In this way, the GFP is used as a fluorescent scaffold to express peptide libraries for functional screening. The presence of the scaffold provides a means to increase the stability of the peptide, which enhances the likelihood that the peptide will bind to a functional target, and also helps monitor the presence and quantity of peptide that may cause a phenotypic change within the cell.
``This technology represents an important aspect of our integrated approach to drug discovery and in fact, was successfully utilized in a currently-partnered program,'' said Donald G. Payan, M.D., chief scientific officer for Rigel. ``It strengthens our growing intellectual property portfolio and further facilitates the technology covered under our recently-issued genomic screening patent, which we announced earlier this year.''
In January of this year, Rigel announced the issuance of U.S. Patent No. 6,153,380, entitled, ``Methods For Screening For Transdominant Intracellular Effector Peptides and RNA Molecules,'' which provides methods for creating, delivering and screening for genomic probes that are capable of altering the disease behavior of virtually any mammalian cell. The technology provides two potentially significant advantages over conventional techniques -- it is a single-step, in vitro approach to screening, and it requires no prior knowledge of the disease pathway -- both of which contribute to rapid and efficient identification of targets that could be useful for the treatment of a broad array of diseases... |
