Inventors: Ronald Mark Evans, Michael B. McKeown, Anthony Eugene Oro, William A. Segraves, Tso-Pang Yao
Potential Uses: Drug Discovery and Development

Methods for using combinations of various members of the steroid/thyroid superfamily of receptor proteins to modulate expression of exogenous genes

In accordance with the present invention, it has been discovered that various members of the steroid/thyroid superfamily of receptors can interact with the insect-derived ultraspiracle receptor, to form multimeric species. Accordingly, the interaction of at least one member of the steroid/thyroid superfamily of receptors with at least the dimerization domain of the ultraspiracle receptor modulates the ability of said member of the steroid/thyroid superfamily of receptors to transactivate transcription of genes maintained under hormone expression control in the presence of the cognate ligand for said member of the superfamily.