Therapeutic peptides having a motif that binds specifically to non-acetylated H3 and H4 histones for cancer therapy

摘要

The present invention describes a composition of matter comprising of a conserved structural motif that allows the targeting and binding of a chromatin binding protein to non-acetylated histone H3 and H4 and prevents their acetylation. This invention is responsible for the anti-carcinogenic property of a chromatin binding peptide isolated from soybean seed. This structural motif is found in a highly conserved manner in other chromatin-binding proteins from different species. Modifications to this structural motif such as fusions to other proteins with functional motifs and amino acid substitutions have potential therapeutic applications and can be developed as an in vivo gene silencing technology for biological and medical research. In particular, active fragments of the lunasin peptide and active analogs of the lunasin peptide are useful in this invention. Pharmaceutical compositions useful in retarding or stopping or reducing various types of cancers are described.