Patent ID: 7407745

Claim:
A method of identifying an agent that activates TSA-responsive Sp3-mediated transcription, the method comprising: providing a mammalian cell in vitro having (a) a first vector comprising a first regulatory sequence operably linked to a nucleic acid sequence encoding a fusion protein, wherein the fusion protein comprises: (i) a fragment of human Sp3 (1) having transcriptional activation activity, and (2) comprising at least one glutamine rich region of a TSA responsive domain of human Sp3, wherein at least amino acids 495-517, 525-547, and 555-575 of the Sp3 Zinc finger region are lacking from said fragment of human Sp3, and (ii) a DNA binding domain of a heterologous protein; and (b) a second vector comprising a target binding sequence for the DNA binding domain of the fusion protein operably linked to a reporter gene; contacting the cell with a test agent; and selecting a test agent that increases the expression of the reporter gene compared to a control.