Patent ID: 7598077

Claim:
A regulatory control sequence comprising: a human telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoter, wherein said promoter comprises at least the E-box set forth at residues 3937-3942 of SEQ ID NO: 1, wherein said E-box is located downstream of the transcription initiation site, and further comprising at least one exogenous E-box element linked in cis with and located following the 3′ end of the TERT promoter; wherein the TERT promoter directs differential expression of an operably linked heterologous nucleic acid sequence in cancer cells as compared to normal cells; and wherein the presence of the at least one exogenous E-box element decreases the expression of the heterologous nucleic acid sequence operably linked to the regulatory control sequence in the normal cells without substantially decreasing the expression of the heterologous nucleic acid sequence in the cancer cells.