By Kwame Mensah --
Last November, Cyplasin Biomedical Ltd. announced that it had been granted U.S. Patent No. 7,271,242, entitled "Cytotoxic Cyplasin of the SeaHare, Aplysia punctata, cDNA Cloning and Expression of Bioreactive Recombinants." The '242 patent covers the production of cytotoxic cyplasin by mammalian cells and the use of this protein for treating cancer. According to Cyplasin's Chief Scientific Officer Professor Christian Petzelt the company will use the technology encompassed by the '242 patent, as well as that encompassed by another Cyplasin patent issued in 2001 (U.S. Patent No. 6,171,818), to further develop cyplasin's selective ability to rapidly kill certain types of cancer cells while leaving normal non-cancerous cells untouched.
The '242 patent issued from U.S. Application No. 10/501,098, filed December 18, 2002. Representative claims 1, 2, and 4 of the '242 patent recite:
1. An isolated protein encoded by a nucleic acid molecule selected from the group consisting of: a) a nucleic acid molecule encoding a protein comprising the amino acid sequence from position 20 or 53 to 558 of SEQ ID NO: 1; b) a nucleic acid molecule comprising the sequence of SEQ ID NO: 5; and c) a nucleic acid molecule, the sequence of which deviates from the nucleic acid sequences specified in (a) or (b) due to the degeneration of the genetic code, wherein said protein lacks a functional secretory signal sequence.
2. A pharmaceutical composition comprising a protein of claim 1.
4. The protein of claim 1, wherein the protein is cyplasin with a deleted or non-functional signal sequence.
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