• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.1070-1076
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• 2009

Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), which prolongs the replicative life span of cells, is highly upregulated in 85-90% of human cancers, whereas most normal somatic tissues in humans express limited levels of the telomerase activity. Therefore, TERT has been a potential target for anticancer therapy. Recently, we described a new approach to human cancer gene therapy, which is based on the group I intron of Tetrahymena thermophila. This ribozyme can specifically mediate RNA replacement of human TERT (hTERT) transcript with a new transcript harboring anticancer activity through a trans-splicing reaction, resulting in selective regression of hTERT-positive cancer cells. However, to validate the therapeutic potential of the ribozyme in animal models, ribozymes targeting inherent transcripts of the animal should be developed. In this study, we developed a Tetrahymena-based trans-splicing ribozyme that can specifically target and replace the mouse TERT (mTERT) RNA. This ribozyme can trigger transgene activity not only also in mTERT-expressing cells but hTERT-positive cancer cells. Importantly, the ribozyme could selectively induce activity of the suicide gene, a herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene, in cancer cells expressing the TERT RNA and thereby specifically hamper the survival of these cells when treated with ganciclovir. The mTERT-targeting ribozyme will be useful for evaluation of the RNA replacement approach as a cancer gene therapeutic tool in the mouse model with syngeneic tumors.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.32-35
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• 2007

Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) is an enzymatic ribonucleoprotein that prolongs the replicative life span of cells by maintaining protective structures at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes. Telomerase activity is highly up-regulated in 85-90% of human cancers, and is predominately regulated by hTERT expression. In contrast, most normal somatic tissues in humans express low or undetectable levels of telomerase activity. This expression profile identifies TERT as a potential anticancer target. By using an RNA mapping strategy based on a trans-splicing ribozyme library, we identified the regions of mouse TERT (mTERT) RNA that were accessible to ribozymes. We found that particularly accessible sites were present downstream of the AUG start codon. This mTERTspecific ribozyme will be useful for validation of the RNA replacement as cancer gene therapy approach in mouse model with syngeneic tumors.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.844-848
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• 2002

In more than half of human tumors, the p53 tumor suppressor gene is mutated. Thus, restoration of wild-type p53 activity by repair of mutant RNA could be a potentially promissing approach to cancer treatment. To explore the potential use of RNA repair for cancer therapy, trans-splicing group I ribozymes were developed that could replace mutant p53 RNA with RNA sequence attached to the 3'end of ribozymes. By employing a mapping library of ribozymes, we first determined which regions of the p53 RNA are accessible to ribozymes, and found that the leader sequences upstream of the AUG start codon appeared to be particularly accessible. Next, trans-splicing ribozymes were generated that specifically recognized the sequences around these accessible regions. Subsequently, the ribozymes reacted with and altered the p53 transcripts by transferring a 3'exon tag sequence onto the targeted p53 RNA with high fidelity. Thus, these ribozymes could be utilized to repair mutant p53 in tumors, which would revert the neoplastic phenotype.