Mcl-1 GENE REGULATORY ELEMENTS AND A PRO-APOPTOTIC Mcl-1 VARIANT

摘要

The present invention relates to a human Mcl-1 gene, to nucleotide sequences that act as regulatory elements for expression of an Mcl-1 gene, to polynucleotides encoding a variant Mcl-1s/ DELTA TM polypeptide, and to oligonucleotides, which contain at least ten nucleotides and can hybridize specifically to a splice junction of the disclosed Mcl-1 gene or to a polynucleotide encoding an Mcl-1 variant polypeptide. The invention also relates to an Mcl-1s/ DELTA TM polypeptide, as well as to antibodies that can interact specifically with an epitope of Mcl-1s/ DELTA TM, but not with an epitope of the full length Mcl-1 polypeptide. In addition, the invention relates to a method of expressing a nucleic acid molecule by introducing into the cell the Mcl-1 gene regulatory element. Additionally, the present invention relates to a method of identifying an agent that can modulate expression of a nucleic acid molecule from an Mcl-1 gene regulatory element to methods of modulating apoptosis of a cell, and to methods of identifying a cellular factor that can be involved in splicing of an Mcl-1 gene transcript.