Patent ID: 7279328

Claim:
A method of determining whether an agent inhibits GC-Box 5 repression of TERT activity in cultured cells, said method comprising: (a) contacting said agent with a first expression system comprising a GC-Box 5 repressor binding site and a coding sequence operably linked to a TERT promoter under conditions such that in the absence of said agent transcription of said coding sequence is repressed as compared to transcription in the presence of said agent; (b) contacting said agent with a second expression system comprising said coding sequence operably linked to said TERT promoter, wherein said second expression system does not comprise said GC-Box 5 repressor binding site; wherein said first and second expression systems are cultured cells; (c) determining whether transcription of said coding sequence in said first expression system is repressed in the presence of said agent as compared to transcription in the absence of said agent; (d) determining whether transcription of said coding sequence in said second expression system is altered in the presence of said agent as compared to transcription in the absence of said agent; and (e) identifying said agent as an agent that inhibits GC-Box 5 repression of TERT transcription if transcription of said coding sequence in said first expression system is not repressed in the presence of said agent as compared to transcription in the absence of said agent and transcription of said coding sequence in said second expression system is not altered in the presence of said agent as compared to transcription in the absence of said agent.