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
1998-04-15
2002-02-05
Kunz, Gary L. (Department: 1647)
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...
C424S139100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06344544
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The technical field of this invention concerns peptides, polypeptides, and polynucleotides involved in nerve cell growth.
BACKGROUND
The specificity of the wiring of the nervous system—the complex pattern of specific synaptic connections—begins to unfold during development as the growing tips of neurons—the growth cones—traverse long distances to find their correct targets. Along their journey, they are confronted by and correctly navigate a series of choice points in a remarkably unerring way to ultimately contact and recognize their correct target.
The identification of growth cone guidance cues is to a large extent, the holy grail of neurobiology. These are the compounds that tell neurons when to grow, where to grow, and when to stop growing. The medical applications of such compounds and their antagonists are enormous and include modulating neuronal growth regenerative capacity, treating neurodegenerative disease, and mapping (e.g. diagnosing) genetic neurological defects.
Over decades of concentrated research, various hypotheses of chemo-attractants and repellant, labeled pathways, cell adhesion molecules, etc. have been evoked to explain guidance. Recently, several recent lines of experiments suggest repulsion may play an important role in neuron guidance and two apparently unrelated factors (“Neurite Growth Inhibitor” and “Collapsin”) capable of inhibiting or collapsing growth cones have been reported.
RELEVANT LITERATURE
For a recent review of much of the literature in this field, see Goodman and Shatz (1993) Cell 72/Neuron 10, 77-98. A description of grasshopper fasciclin IV (now called G-Semaphorin I) appears in Kolodkin et al. (1992) Neuron 9, 831-845. Recent reports on Collapsin and Neurite Growth Inhibitor include Raper and Kapfhammer (1990) Neuron 4, 21-29, an abstract presented by Raper at the GIBCO-BRL Symposium on “Genes and Development/Function of Brain” on Jul. 26, 1993 and Schwab and Caroni (1988) J Neurosci 8, 2381 and Schnell and Schwab (1990) Nature 343, 269, respectively.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A novel class of proteins, semaphorins, nucleic acids encoding semaphorins, and methods of using semaphorins and semaphorin-encoding nucleic acids are disclosed. Semaphorins include the first known family of human proteins which function as growth cone inhibitors and a family of proteins involved in viral, particularly pox viral, pathogenesis and oncogenesis. Families of semaphorin-specific receptors, including receptors found on nerve growth cones and immune cells are also disclosed.
The invention provides agents, including semaphorin peptides, which specifically bind semaphorin receptors and agents, including semaphorin receptor peptides, which specifically bind semaphorins. These agents provide potent modulators of nerve cell growth, immune responsiveness and viral pathogenesis and find use in the treatment and diagnosis of neurological disease and neuro-regeneration, immune modulation including hypersensitivity and graft-rejection, and diagnosis and treatment of viral and oncological infection/diseases.
Semaphorins, semaphorin receptors, semaphorin-encoding nucleic acids, and unique portions thereof also find use variously in screening chemical libraries for regulators of semaphorin or semaphorin receptor-mediated cell activity, in genetic mapping, as probes for related genes, as diagnostic reagents for genetic neurological, immunological and oncological disease and in the production of specific cellular and animal systems for the development of neurological, immunological, oncological and viral disease therapy.
DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS
The present invention discloses novel families of proteins important in nerve and immune cell function: the semaphorins and the semaphorin receptors. The invention provides agents, including semaphorin peptides, which specifically bind semaphorin receptors and agents, including semaphorin receptor peptides, which specifically bind semaphorins. These agents find a wide variety of clinical, therapeutic and research uses, especially agents which modulate nerve and/or immune cell function by specifically mimicing or interfering with semaphorin-receptor binding. For example, selected semaphorin peptides shown to act as semaphorin receptor antagonists are effective by competitively inhibiting native semaphorin association with cellular receptors. Thus, depending on the targeted receptor, these agents can be used to block semaphorin mediated neural cell growth cone repulsion or contact inhibition. Such agents find broad clinical application where nerve cell growth is indicated, e.g. traumatic injury to nerve cells, neurodegenerative disease, etc. A wide variety of semaphorin- and semaphorin receptor-specific binding agents and methods for identifying, making and using the same are described below.
Binding agents of particular interest are semaphorin peptides which specifically bind and antagonize a semaphorin receptor and semaphorin receptor peptides which specifically bind a semaphorin and prevent binding to a native receptor. While exemplified primarily with semaphorin peptides, much of the following description applies analogously to semaphorin receptor peptides.
The semaphorin peptides of the invention comprise a unique portion of a semaphorin and have semaphorin binding specificity. A “unique portion” of a semaphorin has an amino acid sequence unique to that disclosed in that it is not found in any previously known protein. Thus a unique portion has an amino acid sequence length at least long enough to define a novel peptide. Unique semaphorin portions are found to vary from about 5 to about 25 residues, preferably from 5 to 10 residues in length, depending on the particular amino acid sequence. Unique semaphorin portions are readily identified by comparing the subject semaphorin portion sequences with known peptide/protein sequence data bases. Preferred unique portions derive from the semaphorin domains (which exclude the Ig-like, intracellular and transmembrane domains as well as the signal sequences) of the disclosed semaphorin sequences, especially regions that bind the semaphorin receptor, especially that of the human varieties. Preferred semaphorin receptor unique portions derive from the semaphorin binding domains, especially regions with residues which contact the semaphorin ligand, especially that of the human varieties. Particular preferred peptides are further described herein.
The subject peptides may be free or coupled to other atoms or molecules. Frequently the peptides are present as a portion of a larger polypeptide comprising the subject peptide where the remainder of the polypeptide need not be semaphorin- or semaphorin receptor-derived. Alternatively, the subject peptide may be present as. a portion of a “substantially full-length” semaphorin domain or semaphorin receptor sequence which comprises or encodes at least about 200, preferably at least about 250, more preferably at least about 300 amino acids of a disclosed semaphorin/receptor sequence. Thus the invention also provides polypeptides comprising a sequence substantially similar to that of a substantially full-length semaphorin domain or a semaphorin receptor. “Substantially similar” sequences share at least about 40%, more preferably at least about 60%, and most preferably at least about 80% sequence identity. Where the sequences diverge, the differences are generally point insertions/deletions or conservative substitutions, i.e. a cysteine/threonine or serine substitution, an acidic/acidic or hydrophobic/hydrophobic amino acid substitution, etc.
The subject semaphorin peptides/polypeptides are “isolated”, meaning unaccompanied by at least some of the material with which they are associated in their natural state. Generally, an isolated peptide/polypeptide constitutes at least about 1%, preferably at least about 10%, and more preferably at least about 50% by weight of the total peptide/protein in a given sample. By pure peptide/polypeptide is intended at least about 90%, preferably at least 95%, and more preferably at leas
Bentley David R.
Goodman Corey S.
Kolodkin Alex L.
Matthes David
O'Connor Timothy
Gucker Stephen
Kunz Gary L.
Osman Richard Aron
The Regents of the University of California
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