TISSUE-SPECIFIC AND PATHOGEN-SPECIFIC TOXIC AGENTS AND RIBOZYMES

摘要

The present invention relates to the discovery, identification and characterization of toxic agents which are lethal to pathogens and methods f or targeting such toxic agents to a pathogen or pathogen infected cells in orde r to treat and/or eradicate the infection. In particular, the present inventio n relates to toxic agents which target bacteria at different stages of the bacterial life cycle, which are delivered alone or in combination to bacteri a or bacteria-infected cells. The invention relates to toxic agents which are lethal to diseased cells and methods for targeting such toxic agents to a diseased cell in order to treat and/or eradicate the disease. The present invention relates to promoter elements which are pathogen-specific or tissue - specific and the use of such promoter elements to achieve pathogen-specific or tissue-specific expression of the toxic agent(s) and/or ribozyme(s) of the present invention. Specifically, the invention relates to the delivery of on e or more toxic gene products, antisense RNAs, or ribozymes, or combination thereof. The invention provides a novel system by which multiple pathogenic targets may be simultaneously targeted to cause the death of a pathogen, or cell infected with a pathogen. Further, the invention has important implications in the eradication of drug-resistant bacterium and bacterial pathogens. The invention provides a novel system by which multiple targets m ay be simultaneously targeted to cause the death of a diseased cell. The invention has important implications in the eradication of drug-resistant pathogens (such as antibiotic resistant bacteria) and drug-resistant disease d cells (such as drug-resistant cancer cells).