Patent ID: 6894031

Claim:
A method of inhibiting neoplastic cellular proliferation or transformation, or both, of a mammalian cell comprising delivering to a mammalian cell that overexpresses PTTG, a composition comprising an expression vector comprising a promoter and a PTTG carboxy-terminal-related polynucleotide operatively linked to the promoter in a transcriptional unit, said polynucleotide encoding a PTTG-C peptide selected from the group consisting of (A) peptides having an amino acid sequence consisting of SEQ ID NO:9; and (B) peptide fragments of (A) that comprise at least 15 contiguous amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO:9, including a proline-rich region, and that function to downregulate endogenous PTTG expression or PTTG function, or both; and administering the composition by in situ injection into a tissue comprising the cell in a mammalian subject, such that the composition is delivered to the cell in vivo, such that the expression vector enters the cell and the PTTG-C peptide is expressed therein, whereby neoplastic cellular proliferation or transformation, or both, of the cell is inhibited.