Chemistry: natural resins or derivatives; peptides or proteins; – Proteins – i.e. – more than 100 amino acid residues – Blood proteins or globulins – e.g. – proteoglycans – platelet...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-30
2003-05-13
Eyler, Yvonne (Department: 1646)
Chemistry: natural resins or derivatives; peptides or proteins;
Proteins, i.e., more than 100 amino acid residues
Blood proteins or globulins, e.g., proteoglycans, platelet...
C530S388100, C530S300000, C530S350000, C424S143100, C424S130100, C435S007100, C435S069100, C435S320100, C435S331000, C435S334000, C536S023500
Reexamination Certificate
active
06562948
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to the field of cytokine receptors, and more specifically to cytokine receptor/ligand pairs having immunoregulatory activity.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Efficient functioning of the immune system requires a fine balance between cell proliferation and differentiation and cell death, to ensure that the immune system is capable of reacting to foreign, but not self antigens. Integral to the process of regulating the immune and inflammatory response are various members of the Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) Receptor/Nerve Growth Factor Receptor superfamily (Smith et al.,
Science
248:1019; 1990). This family of receptors includes two different TNF receptors (Type I and Type II; Smith et al., supra; and Schall et al.,
Cell
61:361, 1990), nerve growth factor receptor (Johnson et al.,
Cell
47:545, 1986), B cell antigen CD40 (Stamenkovic et al.,
EMBO J.
8:1403, 1989), CD27 (Camerini et al.,
J. Immunol.
147:3165, 1991), CD30 (Durkop et al.,
Cell
68:421, 1992), T cell antigen OX40 (Mallett et al.,
EMBO J.
9:1063, 1990), human Fas antigen (Itoh et al.,
Cell
66:233, 1991), murine 4-1BB receptor (Kwon et al.,
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA
86:1963, 1989) and a receptor referred to as Apoptosis-Inducing Receptor (AIR; U.S. Ser. No. 08/720,864, filed Oct. 4, 1996).
CD40 is a receptor present on B lymphocytes, epithelial cells and some carcinoma cell lines that interacts with a ligand found on activated T cells, CD40L (U.S. Ser. No. 08/249,189, filed May 24, 1994). The interaction of this ligand/receptor pair is essential for both the cellular and humoral immune response. Signal transduction via CD40 is mediated through the association of the cytoplasmic domain of this molecule with members of the TNF receptor-associated factors (TRAFs; Baker and Reddy,
Oncogene
12:1, 1996). It has recently been found that mice that are defective in TRAF3 expression due to a targeted disruption in the gene encoding TRAF3 appear normal at birth but develop progressive hypoglycemia and depletion of peripheral white cells, and die by about ten days of age (Xu et al.,
Immunity
5:407, 1996). The immune responses of chimeric mice reconstituted with TRAF3
−/−
fetal liver cells resemble those of CD40-deficient mice, although TRAF3
−/−
B cells appear to be functionally normal.
The critical role of TRAF3 in signal transduction may be in its interaction with one of the other members of the TNF receptor superfamily, for example, CD30 or CD27, which are present on T cells. Alternatively, there may be other, as yet unidentified members of this family of receptors that interact with TRAF3 and play an important role in postnatal development as well as in the development of a competent immune system. Identifying additional members of the TNF receptor superfamily would provide an additional means of regulating the immune and inflammatory response, as well as potentially providing further insight into post-natal development in mammals.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a novel receptor, referred to as RANK (for receptor activator of NF-&kgr;B), that is a member of the TNF receptor superfamily. RANK is a Type I transmembrane protein having 616 amino acid residues that interacts with TRAF3. Triggering of RANK by over-expression, co-expression of RANK and membrane bound RANK ligand (RANKL), and with addition of soluble RANKL or agonistic antibodies to RANK results in the upregulation of the transcription factor NF-&kgr;B, a ubiquitous transcription factor that is most extensively utilized in cells of the immune system.
Soluble forms of the receptor can be prepared and used to interfere with signal transduction through membrane-bound RANK, and hence upregulation of NF-&kgr;B; accordingly, pharmaceutical compositions comprising soluble forms of the novel receptor are also provided. Inhibition of NF-&kgr;B by RANK antagonists may be useful in ameliorating negative effects of an inflammatory response that result from triggering of RANK, for example in treating toxic shock or sepsis, graft-versus-host reactions, or acute inflammatory reactions. Soluble forms of the receptor will also be useful in vitro to screen for agonists or antagonists of RANK activity.
The cytoplasmic domain of RANK will be useful in developing assays for inhibitors of signal transduction, for example, for screening for molecules that inhibit interaction of RANK with TRAF2 or TRAF3. Deleted forms and fusion proteins comprising the novel receptor are also disclosed.
The present invention also identifies a counterstructure, or ligand, for RANK, referred to as RANKL. RANKL is a Type 2 transmembrane protein with an intracellular domain of less than about 50 amino acids, a transmembrane domain and an extracellular domain of from about 240 to 250 amino acids. Similar to other members of the TNF family to which it belongs, RANKL has a ‘spacer’ region between the transmembrane domain and the receptor binding domain that is not necessary for receptor binding. Accordingly, soluble forms of RANKL can comprise the entire extracellular domain or fragments thereof that include the receptor binding region.
These and other aspects of the present invention will become evident upon reference to the following detailed description of the invention.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5670319 (1997-09-01), Goeddel et al.
patent: 5710013 (1998-01-01), Goeddel et al.
patent: 5767244 (1998-06-01), Goeddel et al.
patent: 5789550 (1998-08-01), Goeddel et al.
patent: 6150090 (2000-11-01), Baltimore et al.
patent: 6316408 (2001-11-01), Boyle
patent: 6410516 (2002-06-01), Baltimore et al.
patent: 0816380 (1998-01-01), None
patent: 0873998 (1998-10-01), None
patent: 0911342 (1999-04-01), None
patent: WO 93/08207 (1993-04-01), None
patent: WO 95/33051 (1995-12-01), None
patent: WO 96/34095 (1996-10-01), None
patent: WO 97/23614 (1997-07-01), None
patent: WO 98/25958 (1998-06-01), None
patent: WO 98/28423 (1998-07-01), None
patent: WO 98/46751 (1998-10-01), None
patent: WO 98/54201 (1998-12-01), None
patent: WO 02/15846 (2002-02-01), None
Anderson et al., “A homologue of the TNF receptor and its ligand enhance T-cell growth and dendritic-cell function,”Nature390:175-179, 1997.
Baker, Stacey J. and Reddy, E. Premkumar, “Transducers of life and death: TNF receptor superfamily and associated proteins,”Oncogene, 12(1):1-9, 1996.
Embl database entry HS421358; accession No. W74421, homo sapiens cDNA clone 346544 containing alu repetitive element, Hillier et al., Jun., 1996.
Embl-est database accession No. R93478, yq16f06.rl homo sapian cDNA clone 197123 5′ sequence, Hillier et al., Aug., 1995.
GenEmbl database accession No. X15271, locus.HSTRGV3F, human T-cell receptor gammaV3F, Lefranc, M. P., Mar., 1991.
George et al., Current methods in sequence comparison and analysis, selected methods and applications, eds. David H. Schlesinger, Alan R. Liss, Inc., New York, pp. 124-129, 1988.
Gibbs, Jackson B. and Oliff, Allen, “Pharmaceutical research in molecular oncology,”Cell79:193-198, 1994.
Guise, Theresa A. and Mundy, Gregory R., “Cancer and bone,”Endocrine Reviews19(1):18-54, 1998.
Huang, Jing and Schreiber, Stuart L., “A yeast genetic system for selecting small molecule inhibitors of protein-protein interaction in nanodroplets,”Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA,94:13396-13401, 1997.
Lacey et al., “Osteoprotegerin ligand is a cytokine that regulates osteoclast differentiation and activation,”Cell, 93:165-175, 1998.
Lynch et al, “A fluorescence polarization based Src-SH2 binding assay,”Analytical Biochemistry, 247:77-82, 1997.
Pullen et al., “CD40-tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor (TRAF) interactions: regulation of CD40 signaling through multiple TRAF binding sites and TRAF hetero-oligomerization,”Biochemistry, 37(34):11836-11845, 1998.
Roodman, G. David, “Advances in bone biology: the osteoclast,”Endocr Rev.17(4):308-332, 1996.
Rossi et al., “Monitoring protein-protein interactions in intact eukaryotic cells by &bgr;-galactosidase complementation,”Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U
Basi Nirmal S.
Eyler Yvonne
Immunex Corporation
Sheiness Diana K.
LandOfFree
Receptor activator of NF-&kgr;B does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Receptor activator of NF-&kgr;B, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Receptor activator of NF-&kgr;B will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3070808