Thomas J Farrell

US Patent:

20040005601, Jan 8, 2004

Filed:

Apr 4, 2003

Appl. No.:

10/407449

Inventors:

Laurence Hurley - Tucson AZ, US
Thomas Farrell - Del Mar CA, US
Cory Grand - Tucson AZ, US
David Bearss - Modesto CA, US

International Classification:

C12Q001/68

US Classification:

435/006000

Abstract:

Among the different intrastrand quadruplex structures that can arise from duplex DNA, it has been discovered that a chair conformation is biologically significant. Also, it has been determined that certain mutations in quadruplex forming nucleotide sequences destabilize quadruplex structure and are associated with cancer. Thus, provided herein are quadruplex-destabilized nucleic acid acids, cancer diagnostics and prognostics, methods for using the cancer diagnostics and prognostics to prevent and/or treat cancer, nucleic acid therapeutics that target quadruplex-destabilized nucleotide sequences and methods, methods for identifying compounds that modulate the biological activity of a native quadruplex DNA in a chair conformation, and methods for modulating the biological activity of a native quadruplex DNA with a compound identified by the methods described herein.