Granted Patent B2

US 12,599,678 · App. 18/313,126 · Granted Apr 14, 2026

Inventors: Daniel Getts (Medfield, MA); Yuxiao Wang (Belmont, MA); Namita Bisaria (Somerville, MA); Inna Shcherbakova (Holliston, MA); Socheata Ly (North Billerica, MA)

Assignee: CREATE Medicines, Inc.

A61K48/005A61K31/711A61K31/713A61K38/1774A61K38/45A61K38/465A61K39/39558C07K14/7051C07K16/32C12N9/1276C12N9/22C12N15/11C12N15/113C12N15/85C12N15/90C12N15/907C12Y207/07049A61K48/00C07K2319/03C07K2319/09C07K2319/30C07K2319/33C12N2310/14C12N2310/20C12N2320/31C12N2800/80C12N2800/90C12N2830/50C12N2840/203

Abstract

Claims (49)

1 . A method of expressing an exogenous human therapeutic polypeptide from a genomically integrated DNA sequence of a target human cell, the method comprising:

(a) contacting a plurality of the target human cell with a composition comprising:

(I) a nanoparticle delivery vehicle comprising:

one or more exogenous RNA molecules, wherein the one or more exogenous RNA molecules comprises a first RNA molecule, comprising:

(i) a first RNA sequence that is a reverse complement of a sequence encoding the exogenous human therapeutic polypeptide, and

(ii) a second RNA sequence comprising a mobile genetic element that is not controlled by a promoter; comprising a sequence that encodes a human LINE-1 open reading frame 2 (ORF2p) polypeptide or fragment thereof, wherein the human LINE-1 ORF2p polypeptide or the fragment thereof has a human LINE-1 ORF2p reverse transcriptase or a functional fragment thereof and a human LINE-1 ORF2p endonuclease domain that lacks a endonuclease activity,

and a sequence encoding a heterologous RNA guided endonuclease,

wherein the heterologous RNA guided endonuclease comprises a CRISPR-Cas (Cas) endonuclease;

wherein the human LINE-1 ORF2p polypeptide or the fragment thereof that has the human LINE-1 ORF2p reverse transcriptase or a functional fragment thereof and the human LINE-1 ORF2p endonuclease domain that lacks endonuclease activity is fused to the Cas endonuclease;

and

(II) a guide RNA;

wherein a target human cell uptakes the one or more exogenous RNA molecules and the guide RNA,

(b) translating the sequence of the second RNA sequence of (a)(I)(ii), thereby producing the heterologous RNA guided endonuclease and the human LINE-1 ORF2p reverse transcriptase;

(c) (i) cutting genomic DNA of the target human cell by the heterologous RNA guided endonuclease, thereby producing a DNA cut site in the genomic DNA of the target human cell; and

(ii) reverse transcribing the sequence of (a)(i) by the human LINE-1 ORF2p reverse transcriptase translated in step (b), thereby producing a DNA sequence encoding the exogenous human therapeutic polypeptide;

(d) integrating via the human LINE-1 ORF2p mediated target primed reverse transcription (TPRT), the DNA sequence encoding the exogenous human therapeutic polypeptide into the genomic DNA of the target human cell at the DNA cut site; and

(e) after step (d) expressing the exogenous human therapeutic polypeptide from the DNA sequence integrated into the genomic DNA of step (d) in the target human cell,

wherein the exogenous human therapeutic polypeptide expresses from the DNA sequence integrated into the genomic DNA in at least 2% target human cells of the plurality of the target human cell.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more exogenous RNA molecules further comprises an RNA sequence encoding a human LINE-1 ORF1p polypeptide or a functional fragment thereof.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more exogenous RNA molecules comprises:

(a) a first RNA molecule comprising the sequence encoding the human LINE-1 ORF1p polypeptide, and

(b) a second RNA molecule comprising:

(A) the first RNA sequence that is the reverse complement of a sequence encoding the exogenous human therapeutic polypeptide, and

(B) the second RNA sequence comprising the mobile genetic element that is not controlled by a promoter, comprising the sequence encoding the human LINE-1 ORF2p polypeptide or fragment thereof, wherein the human LINE-1 ORF2p polypeptide or the fragment thereof has a human LINE-1 ORF2p reverse transcriptase or a functional fragment thereof and a human LINE-1 ORF2p endonuclease that lacks endonuclease activity, and the sequence encoding the heterologous RNA guided site-specific endonuclease.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein ratio of the first RNA molecule to the second RNA molecule in the composition is at least 2:1, and less than 10:1.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the ratio of the first RNA molecule to the second RNA molecule in the composition is about 3:1.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the reverse transcriptase comprises a C-terminal nuclear localization signal (NLS) or an N-terminal NLS.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the target human cell is an immune cell selected from the group consisting of a T cell, a B cell, a myeloid cell, a monocyte, a macrophage and a dendritic cell.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more exogenous RNA molecules comprises homology arms complementary to a target site that is a sequence surrounding the DNA cut site in the genomic DNA.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein integrating comprises integrating the DNA sequence encoding the exogenous human therapeutic polypeptide into non-ribosomal genomic DNA (rDNA) of the target human cell or integrating the DNA sequence encoding the exogenous human therapeutic polypeptide into the genomic DNA at a locus that is not an rDNA locus.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the guide RNA targets a DNA target site of the genomic DNA that is not an rDNA locus.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the exogenous human therapeutic polypeptide is selected from the group consisting of a ligand, an antibody, a receptor, an enzyme, a transport protein, a structural protein, a hormone, a contractile protein, a storage protein and a transcription factor.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the exogenous human therapeutic polypeptide is a receptor selected from the group consisting of a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and a T cell receptor (TCR).

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the DNA sequence encoding the exogenous human therapeutic polypeptide does not comprise introns.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more exogenous RNA molecules comprises a 5′ UTR sequence, a 3′ UTR sequence and a poly A sequence; wherein:

(i) the 5′ UTR sequence is upstream of the second RNA sequence comprising the mobile genetic element comprising the sequence encoding the human LINE-1 ORF2p reverse transcriptase,

(ii) the 3′ UTR sequence is downstream of the sequence encoding the exogenous human therapeutic polypeptide;

(iii) the 3′ UTR is upstream of the poly A sequence; and

wherein,

(a) the 5′ UTR comprises a 5′ UTR from LINE-1; and/or

(b) the 3′ UTR comprises a 3′ UTR from LINE-1.

15 . The method of claim 1 wherein the Cas endonuclease is Cas9, Cas6, Cas7, or Cas8.

16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein contacting comprises administering the composition to a human subject.

17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more exogenous RNA molecules comprises a glycosylated RNA molecule, a circular RNA molecule or a self-replicating RNA molecule.

18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the exogenous therapeutic polypeptide is expressed from a non-ribosomal safe harbor locus of the genomically integrated DNA sequence.

19 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the Cas endonuclease is a mutated form thereof comprising a Cas nickase.

20 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the DNA cut site is a single strand nick.

21 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the reverse transcriptase and the heterologous RNA guided endonuclease promote integration of the DNA sequence encoding the exogenous human therapeutic polypeptide into the genomic DNA of the target human cell of the target human cell via TPRT.

22 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the human LINE-1 ORF2p polypeptide comprising human LINE-1 ORF2p reverse transcriptase comprises a sequence that has at least 80% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 55.

Assignments (3)

Continuity (7)

References Cited (171)