Drug – bio-affecting and body treating compositions – Designated organic active ingredient containing – Peptide containing doai
Reexamination Certificate
1996-04-12
2001-04-24
Duffy, Patricia A. (Department: 1645)
Drug, bio-affecting and body treating compositions
Designated organic active ingredient containing
Peptide containing doai
C514S008100, C514S002600
Reexamination Certificate
active
06221840
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
The field of the invention is peptides useful for treatment of disorders of the digestive system.
Jørgensen et al. (1982, Regulatory Peptides 3:231) describe a porcine pancreatic peptide, pancreatic spasmolytic peptide (PSP). PSP was found to inhibit “gastrointestinal motility and gastric acid secretion in laboratory animal after parenteral as well as oral administration.” It was suggested that “if the results in animal experiments can be confirmed in man, PSP may possess a potential utility in treatment of gastroduodenal ulcer diseases.”
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In a first aspect, the invention features a purified nucleic acid encoding an intestinal trefoil factor (ITF).
In preferred embodiments, the intestinal trefoil factor is mammalian intestinal trefoil factor, preferably human, rat, bovine, or porcine intestinal trefoil factor. In another preferred embodiment, the purified nucleic acid encoding an intestinal trefoil factor is present within a vector.
In a related aspect, the invention features a cell that includes a vector encoding an intestinal trefoil factor.
In another related aspect, the invention features a substantially pure intestinal trefoil factor. In a preferred embodiment, the polypeptide is detectably labelled. In a related aspect, the invention features a therapeutic composition that includes an intestinal trefoil factor and a pharmacologically acceptable carrier.
In another aspect, the invention features a monoclonal antibody which preferentially binds (i.e., forms an immune complex with) an intestinal trefoil factor. In a preferred embodiment, the monoclonal antibody is detectably labelled.
In a related aspect, the invention features a method for detecting human intestinal trefoil factor in a human patient. The method includes the steps of contacting a biological sample obtained from the patient with a monoclonal antibody which preferentially binds intestinal trefoil factor, and detecting immune complexes formed with the monoclonal antibody. In preferred embodiments the biological sample is an intestinal mucosal scraping, or serum.
In a related aspect, the invention features a method for treating digestive disorders in a human patient, which method involves administering to the patient a therapeutic composition that includes an intestinal trefoil factor and a pharmacologically acceptable carrier.
In another aspect, the invention features a method for detecting binding sites for intestinal trefoil factor in a patient. The method involves contacting a biological sample obtained from the patient with the factor, and detecting the factor bound to the biological sample as an indication of the presence of the binding sites in the sample. By “binding sites,” as used herein, is meant any antibody or receptor that binds to an intestinal trefoil factor protein, factor, or analog. The detection or quantitation of binding sites may be a useful reflection of abnormalities of the gastrointestinal tract.
In another aspect, the invention features substantially pure trefoil factor. In preferred embodiments, the intestinal trefoil factor is human, porcine, or bovine trefoil factor.
By “intestinal trefoil factor” (“ITF”) is meant any protein that is substantially homologous to rat intestinal trefoil factor (
FIG. 2
; SEQ ID NO.:2) and which is expressed in the large intestine, small intestine, or colon to a greater extent than it is expressed in tissues other than the small intestine, large intestine, or colon. Also included are: allelic variations; natural mutants; induced mutants; proteins encoded by DNA that hybridizes under high or low stringency conditions to ITF encoding nucleic acids retrieved from naturally occurring material; and polypeptides or proteins retrieved by antisera to ITF, especially by antisera to the active site or binding domain of ITF. The term also includes other chimeric polypeptides that include an ITF.
The term ITF also includes analogs of naturally occurring ITF polypeptides. Analogs can differ from naturally occurring ITF by amino acid sequence differences or by modifications that do not affect sequence, or by both. Analogs of the invention will generally exhibit at least 70%, more preferably 80%, more preferably 90%, and most preferably 95% or even 99%, homology with all or part of a naturally occurring ITF sequence. The length of comparison sequences will generally be at least 8 amino acid residues, usually at least 20 amino acid residues, more usually at least 24 amino acid residues, typically at least 28 amino acid residues, and preferably more than 35 amino acid residues. Modifications include in vivo, or in vitro chemical derivatization of polypeptides, e.g., acetylation, or carboxylation. Also included are modifications of glycosylation, e.g., those made by modifying the glycosylation patterns of a polypeptide during its synthesis and processing or in further processing steps, e.g., by exposing the polypeptide to enzymes that affect glycosylation derived from cells that normally provide such processing, e.g., mammalian glycosylation enzymes. Also embraced are versions of the same primary amino acid sequence that have phosphorylated amino acid residues, e.g., phosphotyrosine, phosphoserine, or phosphothreonine. Analogs can differ from naturally occurring ITF by alterations of their primary sequence. These include genetic variants, both natural and induced. Induced mutants may be derived by various techniques, including random mutagenesis of the encoding nucleic acids using irradiation or exposure to ethanemethylsulfate (EMS), or may incorporate changes produced by site-specific mutagenesis or other techniques of molecular biology. See, Sambrook, Fritsch and Maniatis (1989),
Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual
(2d ed.), CSH Press, hereby incorporated by reference. Also included are analogs that include residues other than naturally occurring L-amino acids, e.g., D-amino acids or non-naturally occurring or synthetic amino acids, e.g., &bgr; or &ggr; amino acids.
In addition to substantially full-length polypeptides, the term ITF, as used herein, includes biologically active fragments of the polypeptides. As used herein, the term “fragment,” as applied to a polypeptide, will ordinarily be at least 10 contiguous amino acids, typically at least 20 contiguous amino acids, more typically at least 30 contiguous amino acids, usually at least 40 contiguous amino acids, preferably at least 50 contiguous amino acids, and most preferably at least 60 to 80 or more contiguous amino acids in length. Fragments of ITF can be generated by methods known to those skilled in the art. The ability of a candidate fragment to exhibit a biological activity of ITF can be assessed by methods known to those skilled in the art. Also included in the term “fragment” are biologically active ITF polypeptides containing amino acids that are normally removed during protein processing, including additional amino acids that are not required for the biological activity of the polypeptide, or including additional amino acids that result from alternative mRNA splicing or alternative protein processing events.
An ITF polypeptide, fragment, or analog is biologically active if it exhibits a biological activity of a naturally occurring ITF, e.g., the ability to alter gastrointestinal motility in a mammal.
The invention also includes nucleic acid sequences, and purified preparations thereof, that encode the ITF polypeptides described herein. The invention also includes antibodies, preferably monoclonal antibodies, that bind specifically to ITF polypeptides.
As used herein, the term “substantially pure” describes a compound, e.g., a nucleic acid, a protein, or a polypeptide, e.g., an ITF protein or polypeptide, that is substantially free from the components that naturally accompany it. Typically, a compound is substantially pure when at least 60%, more preferably at least 75%, more preferably at least 90%, and most preferably at least 99%, of the total material (by volume, by wet or dry weight, or by mole percent or mole fraction) in a sample is the compound of interest
Duffy Patricia A.
Fish & Richardson P.C.
The General Hospital Corporation
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