1073. Down-Regulation of Epithelial Glycoprotein-2 and VEGF-D by Engineered Zinc Finger Protein Transcription Factors

Abstract

Engineered zinc finger protein (ZFP) transcription factors are emerging as powerful tools to regulate endogenous gene expression as they are capable of selectively down- or upregulate all (splice) variants of a gene (family), in contrast to siRNA. Zinc finger proteins consist of modular building blocks recognizing 3|[ndash]|4 base pairs each. Stitching these fingers together results in the recognition of an extended and therefore unique DNA sequence. The small size of these transcription factors allows easy manipulation for efficient delivery and multiple transcription factors can be delivered utilizing one vector. As the target DNA sequence does not have to be palindromic, it is feasible to specifically target virtually any DNA sequence in the human genome.