These 2A peptides will allow us, and others, to generate single vectors that can efficiently and reliably express multiple proteins in the exact amounts needed to permit the cell to assemble complex structures, said Dario A. A. Vignali, Ph.D., associate member of the St. Jude Department of Immunology and a faculty member at the University of Tennessee Medical Center.

Vignali is senior author of the Nature Biotechnology report.

We expect that this technique will make it a lot easier for us to study the role of complex protein structures, Vignali said. These 2A peptides may also facilitate the development of more versatile gene therapy vectors for treatments that require replacement or expression of more than a single gene.

Other authors of this study are Andrea L. Szymczak (St. Jude and University of Tennessee), Creg J. Workman, Yao Wang, Kate M. Vignali, Smaroula Dilioglou (St. Jude) and Elio F. Vanin (currently Baylor College of Medicine.)

This work was supported in part by NIH, a Cancer Center Support (CORE) grant and ALSAC.

St. Jude Children's Research HospitalSt. Jude Children's Research Hospital is internationally recognized for its pioneering work in finding cures and saving children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. Founded by late entertainer Danny Thomas and based in Memphis, Tennessee, St. Jude freely shares its discoveries with scientific and medical communities around the world. No family ever pays for treatments not covered by insurance, and families without insurance are never asked to pay. St. Jude is financially supported by ALSAC, its fundraising organization. For more information, please visit www.stjude.