Regulation of RNA Stability

This invention relates to the discovery that tristetraprolin (TTP) can promote the poly(A)RNase (PARN) mediated deadenylation of polyadenylated substrates containing AU-rich elements (AREs). As one aspect of the invention, the inventors have developed a cell free system that may be used for the purposes of assessing the effects of the various system components or their derivatives (i.e. AREs, PARN, or TTP) on the deadenylation process or the effects of various test agents on the deadenylation process.