Inventors: George, Shaji T.; Shih, Andy; Bockman, Jeffrey Michael;
Assignee: Innovir Laboratories, Inc. (New York, NY)
Primary Examiner: LeGuyader; John L.
Assistant Examiner:
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Arnall Golden & Gregory, LLP.
Regulatable RNA molecules such as regulatable ribozymes, nucleic acids encoding such regulatable ribozymes, and methods of making and using such regulatable ribozymes are disclosed. Regulatable ribozymes comprise a ligand-binding RNA sequence and a ribozyme sequence capable of cleaving a separate targeted RNA sequence, wherein upon binding of the ligand to the ligand-binding RNA sequence, the activity of the ribozyme sequence against the targeted RNA sequence is altered. The ligand may be either an inorganic or an organic molecule and may be a co-drug which can be administered to specifically regulate the ribozyme activity. Regulatable RNA molecules other than ribozymes are also disclosed, such as regulatable mRNA molecules which comprise a ligand-binding RNA sequence separate from the coding sequence, wherein upon binding of a ligand to the ligand-binding RNA sequence, translation of the regulatable mRNA is altered. |
Gene Therapy 
