Claims for Patent: 7,846,687

Summary for Patent: 7,846,687

Title:	Cytomegalovirus Intron A fragments
Abstract:	Cytomegalovirus (CMV) Intron A fragments for expressing gene products are disclosed. Also described are expression vectors including the fragments, as well as methods of using the same.
Inventor(s):	Thudium; Kent B. (Oakland, CA), Selby; Mark (San Francisco, CA)
Assignee:	Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics, Inc. (Emeryville, CA)
Application Number:	11/103,805
Patent Claims:	1. A recombinant expression construct for production of a recombinant polypeptide encoded by a selected coding sequence, said expression construct comprising: (a) the coding sequence; (b) control elements that are operably linked to said coding sequence, wherein said control elements comprise (i) a human cytomegalovirus (hCMV) Intron A fragment, wherein said fragment is obtained by an internal deletion of at least 10 nucleotides of the full-length Intron A sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 and the fragment comprises: the contiguous sequence of nucleotides at positions 1-51 of SEQ ID NO: 1, linked to the contiguous sequence of nucleotides at positions 741-820 of SEQ ID NO: 1, wherein when said fragment is present in the expression construct, the fragment directs the transcription of the operably linked coding sequence present in the construct to levels equal to or greater than those levels achieved by an expression construct that includes the intact, full-length Intron A sequence; and (ii) a promoter selected from the group consisting of an SV40 early promoter, a CMV promoter, a mouse mammary tumor virus LTR promoter, an adenovirus major late promoter, an RSV promoter, a SR.alpha. promoter, and a herpes simplex virus promoter, whereby said coding sequence can be transcribed and translated in a host cell to produce said recombinant polypeptide. 2. An isolated host cell comprising the recombinant expression construct of claim 1. 3. A method of producing a recombinant polypeptide comprising: (a) providing a host cell comprising a recombinant expression construct for production of a recombinant polypeptide encoded by a selected coding sequence, said expression construct comprising: (i) the coding sequence; (ii) control elements that are operably linked to said coding sequence, wherein said control elements comprise (1) a human cytomegalovirus (hCMV) Intron A fragment, wherein said fragment is obtained by an internal deletion of at least 10 nucleotides of the full-length Intron A sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 and the fragment comprises: the contiguous sequence of nucleotides at positions 1-51 of SEQ ID NO: 1, linked to the contiguous sequence of nucleotides at positions 741-820 of SEQ ID NO: 1, wherein when said fragment is present in the expression construct, the fragment directs the transcription of the operably linked coding sequence present in the construct to levels equal to or greater than those levels achieved by an expression construct that includes the intact, full-length Intron A sequence; and (2) a promoter; and (b) culturing said cell under conditions whereby said coding sequence of said recombinant expression construct is expressed, thereby producing said recombinant polypeptide. 4. A method of producing a recombinant polypeptide comprising: (a) introducing an expression construct for production of a recombinant polypeptide encoded by a selected coding sequence into a host cell, wherein the expression construct comprises: (i) the coding sequence; (ii) control elements that are operably linked to said coding sequence, wherein said control elements comprise (1) a human cytomegalovirus (hCMV) Intron A fragment, wherein said fragment is obtained by an internal deletion of at least 10 nucleotides of the full-length Intron A sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 and the fragment comprises: the contiguous sequence of nucleotides at positions 1-51 of SEQ ID NO: 1, linked to the contiguous sequence of nucleotides at positions 741-820 of SEQ ID NO: 1, wherein when said fragment is present in the expression construct, the fragment directs the transcription of the operably linked coding sequence present in the construct to levels equal to or greater than those levels achieved by an expression construct that includes the intact, full-length Intron A sequence; and (2) a promoter; and (b) culturing the host cell under conditions whereby said coding sequence of said recombinant expression construct is expressed, thereby producing said recombinant polypeptide.

Details for Patent 7,846,687

Applicant	Tradename	Biologic Ingredient	Dosage Form	BLA	Approval Date	Patent No.	Expiredate
Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.	INTRON A	interferon alfa-2b	For Injection	103132	06/04/1986		2020-10-13
Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.	INTRON A	interferon alfa-2b	For Injection	103132			2020-10-13
Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.	INTRON A	interferon alfa-2b	Injection	103132			2020-10-13