Regulatory News:
Cellectis (Paris:ALCLS) announces the issuance by the USPTO of US
patent 8,921,332 covering chimeric endonucleases for chromosomal gene
editing by homologous recombination in cells.
On December the 30th, 2014, the USPTO issued a patent to
Institut Pasteur and the Boston Children’s Hospital for a method of
nuclease-based chromosomal gene editing in cells in vitro.
This issued patent, filed on February 2000, is part of a patent
portfolio owned by Boston Children’s Hospital and Institut Pasteur and
licensed exclusively to Cellectis pursuant to a license agreement dated
June 2000.
This new patent complements Cellectis' large portfolio of gene editing
technologies implemented in its CAR T-cells and gene therapy programs to
treat unmet medical needs, as well as within its Minnesota-based
agricultural biotechnology subsidiary, Cellectis plant sciences,
developing food products with healthier characteristics.
The inventors of this patent are Dr. André Choulika, Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer of Cellectis, one of the pioneers in the development
of nuclease-based genome engineering technology, and Professor Richard
C. Mulligan, the Mallinckrodt Professor of Genetics, Emeritus, at
Harvard Medical School, a Founding Partner of Sarissa Capital
Management, and a former member of Cellectis’ Board of Directors.
Professor Mulligan is a world-renowned scientist whose laboratory has
made seminal contributions to the development of fundamental gene
transfer and gene therapy technology.
This patent, US 8,921,332, covers “the use of a chimeric endonuclease to
induce homologous recombination between a nucleic acid vector and the
chromosomal DNA of the cell in vitro to modify a specific
sequence”. This seminal invention is at the origin of most current
nuclease-based precise gene editing technologies involving Zinc Finger
Nucleases, TALEN™, Mega-TALE, BurrH Nucleases, as well as
CRISPR, which all are chimeric endonucleases comprising a DNA binding
sequence and a DNA cleavage domain with a recognition site of at least
12 base pairs (bp).
Claim 1 of the 55 claims of the patent covers:
“A method of
modifying a specific sequence in chromosomal DNA of a cell in vitro
comprising:
inducing in the cell double stranded cleavage of
chromosomal DNA at a genomic site of interest in the specific sequence
to be modified, wherein the inducing comprises contacting the genomic
site of interest with a chimeric restriction endonuclease, said chimeric
restriction endonuclease comprising a DNA binding sequence and a DNA
cleavage domain, and said restriction endonuclease recognizing a DNA
sequence of at least 12 bp, wherein said restriction endonuclease is
introduced as a protein or is encoded by a nucleic acid vector that is
expressed; and contacting said cell with a targeting DNA or a nucleic
acid vector encoding said targeting DNA in an amount sufficient to
produce recombination between said targeting DNA and said chromosomal
DNA at the site of interest, wherein said targeting DNA comprises (1)
DNA homologous to the region surrounding the genomic site of interest
and (2) DNA which modifies the specific sequence upon recombination
between said targeting DNA and said chromosomal DNA, thereby modifying
the specific sequence in the chromosomal DNA of the cell.”
About Cellectis
Cellectis is a biopharmaceutical company
focused on developing immunotherapies based on gene edited engineered
CAR T-cells (UCART). The company’s mission is to develop a new
generation of cancer therapies based on engineered T-cells. Cellectis
capitalizes on its 15 years of expertise in genome engineering - based
on its flagship TALEN™ products and meganucleases and pioneering
electroporation PulseAgile technology - to create a new generation of
immunotherapies for treating leukemias and solid tumors. Cellectis’
adoptive cancer immunotherapy for chronic and acute leukemias is based
on allogeneic T-cell chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) technology. CAR
technologies are designed to target surface antigens expressed on cells.
Using its life-science-focused, pioneering genome-engineering
technologies, Cellectis’ goal is to create innovative products in
multiple fields and with various target markets. Cellectis is listed on
the NYSE Alternext market (ticker: ALCLS). To find out more about us,
visit our website: www.cellectis.com.
Disclaimer
This press release and the information contained
herein do not constitute an offer to sell or subscribe, or a
solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe, for shares in Cellectis in
any country. This press release contains forward-looking statements that
relate to the Company’s objectives based on the current expectations and
assumptions of the Company’s management only and involve risk and
uncertainties that could cause the Company to fail to achieve the
objectives expressed by the forward-looking statements above.
Copyright Business Wire 2015