Edinburgh: Drug screening innovation based on p110 PI3 kinase mouse models

25 Aug 2010 | News

Licensing opportunity

Scientists at Edinburgh University have developed a series of PI3 kinase mouse models that enable the function of the p110 catalytic units to be investigated.

Phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3 kinases) are a family of enzymes involved in a broad range of cell functions including cell growth, differentiation and proliferation. A number of them have been implicated in diseases such as cancer, inflammation and diabetes.

Understanding their function through conventional targeted knock-out mouse approaches is problematic, as deletion of PI3 kinase genes in mice often alters expression of non-targeted PI3 kinase family members, which can hamper attempts to examine phenotypes.

These mice have been created using a strategy that preserves signalling stoichiometry and generates accurate and informative phenotypes. This knock-in strategy generates kinase inactive forms, thereby preserving signalling complex stoichiometry. The technique also enables accurate analysis of the role of the p110 alpha, beta and delta catalytic sub units in cells and tissues, and provides a tool box of alpha, beta and delta mouse strains for p110 kinase target validation and drug discovery.

The new technology will allow basic PI3 kinase signalling research to dissect function of p110 isoforms, and allow researchers to target validation/pre-clinical drug discovery in cancer, fertility, diabetes and immunology.

Edinburgh University is seeking enquiries from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies looking to license these strains under a non-exclusive licence agreement.

For more information, visit the project’s page at http://www.university-technology.com/details/p110-pi3-kinase-mouse-models

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