Chemistry: molecular biology and microbiology – Measuring or testing process involving enzymes or... – Involving nucleic acid
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-20
2003-07-01
Falk, Anne-Marie (Department: 1636)
Chemistry: molecular biology and microbiology
Measuring or testing process involving enzymes or...
Involving nucleic acid
C514S04400A, C424S009100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06586185
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to the use of polypeptides selected from SEQ ID No. 1 to SEQ ID No. 26 and/or SEQ ID No. 29 to SEQ ID No. 48 and/or SEQ ID No. 55 to SEQ ID No. 58 and/or SEQ ID No. 63 to SEQ ID No. 73 and/or SEQ ID No. 80 to SEQ ID No. 82 and/or of a nucleic acids encoding these, and/or of a cell expressing said polypeptide or said nucleic acid, for the diagnosis, prevention and/or treatment of disorders, in particular skin disorders, wound healing, and/or wound healing disorders, and/or for the identification of pharmacologically active substances.
Wounds in general heal without therapeutic intervention. However, there are numerous disorders in which wound healing plays a role, such as, for example, diabetes mellitus, arterial occlusive diseases, psoriasis, Crohn's disease, epidermolysis bullosa, age-related skin changes or innervation disorders. Wound healing disorders lead to a delayed healing of wounds or to chronic wounds. These disorders can be caused by the nature of the wound (e.g. large-area wounds, deep and mechanically expanded operation wounds, burns, trauma, decubitus), medicinal treatment of the patients (e.g. with corticoids) but also by the nature of the disorder itself. For example, 25% of the patients with Type II diabetes thus frequently suffer from chronic ulcers (“diabetic foot”), of which approximately half necessitate expensive hospitalized treatments and nevertheless finally heal poorly. Diabetic foot causes more stays in hospital than any other complication associated with diabetes. The number of these cases in diabetes Type I and II is on the increase and represents 2.5% of all hospital admissions. Moreover, wounds heal more poorly with increasing age of the patients. An acceleration of the natural wound healing process is often desirable as well in order to decrease, for example, the danger of bacterial infections or the rest periods of the patients.
Further disorders can also occur after successful wound closure. While foetal skin wounds heal without scar formation, after injuries in the post-natal period formation of scars always occurs, which often represent a great cosmetic problem. In the case of patients with large-area burn wounds, the quality of life can moreover be dramatically adversely affected, especially as in scarred skin the appendages, such as hair follicles, sweat and sebaceous glands are missing. In the case of appropriate genetic disposition, keloids can also occur, hypertrophic scars which proliferate into the surrounding skin.
The process of skin healing requires complex actions and interactions of various cell types which proceed in a coordinated manner. In the wound healing process, the following steps are differentiated: blood clotting in the area of the wound, the recruitment of inflammatory cells, reepithelialization, the formation of granular tissue and matrix remodeling. Little is known up to now about the exact reaction pattern of the cell types involved during the phases of proliferation, migration, matrix synthesis and contraction, just like about the regulation of genes such as, for example, growth factors, receptors and matrix proteins.
Thus until now only a few satisfactory therapies have been developed in order to treat wound healing disorders. Established forms of therapy are restricted to physical assistance of wound healing (e.g. dressings, compresses, gels) or the transplantation of skin tissues, cultured skin cells and/or matrix proteins. In recent years, growth factors have been tested for improving wound healing without, however, improving the conventional therapy decisively. The diagnosis of wound healing disorders is also based on not very meaningful optical analyses of the skin, since a deeper understanding of the gene regulation during wound healing was lacking until now.
Not very satisfactory therapies have been developed until now for other disorders of regenerative processes as well. Here too, the knowledge of gene regulation is advantageous for the development of diagnostics and therapies. It has been shown (Finch et al., 1997, Am. J. Pathol. 151: 1619-28; Werner, 1998, Cytokine Growth Factor Rev. 9: 153-165) that genes relevant to wound healing also play a crucial role in dermatological disorders which are based on disorders of the regeneration of the skin, and generally in regenerative processes. Thus the growth factor KGF not only plays a crucial role in the regulation of the proliferation and differentiation of keratinocytes during wound healing, but is also an important factor in the hyperproliferation of the keratinocytes in psoriasis and regenerative processes in the intestine (in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis).
It is therefore the object of the present invention to make available polypeptides and nucleic acids encoding these which are involved in processes in disorders of skin cells, in wound healing and/or in wound healing disorders, and whose use decisively improves the diagnosis, prevention and/or treatment, and also the identification and development of pharmaceuticals which are effective in connection with these disorders.
Diseases of the skin, wound healing and its pathological disorders within the meaning of the invention are to be discriminated from skin diseases which are accompanied by uncontrolled cell proliferation and cell differentiation, in particular by skin cancer. In the latter disease, transformation of individual cells occurs, which therefore begin to proliferate in an uncontrolled, autonomous manner, i.e. isolated from interactions with other cell types, and at the same time transmit the pathological changes to the daughter cells. It is thus a disorder which is accompanied by a loss of interactions, for example of cell-cell adhesion and of typical cell properties. In contrast, diseases within the meaning of the invention are based on disorders of cell-cell interactions. The formation of skin diseases within the meaning of the invention is caused by a large number of factors. Thus in the case of psoriasis, for example, genetic predispositions and malfunctions of the T cells, fibroblasts and keratinocytes probably both play an important role (see, for example, Nair et al., 1997; Hum. Molec. Genet. 6: 1349-1356; Gottlieb et al., 1995, Nat. Med. 1: 442-447; Saiag et al., 1985, Science, 230: 669-672; Pittelkow, 1998, in Roenigk 1998: 225-246). The course of wound healing can also be modulated by various endogenous and exogenous factors. Even small perturbations of the interactions between the different cell types of the dermis and epidermis themselves, but also of interactions with other tissues and organs such as the blood vessel system, the nervous system and the connective tissue, can lead to disturbed wound healing followed by scar formation. Furthermore, infections, aging, disorders such as diabetes and immune disorders and also vitamin deficiencies can adversely affect the wound-healing process. Similarly complex interactions are also described for other skin diseases such as vitiligo and atopic dermatitis. This essentially differentiates the skin diseases from cancer of these organs. Preferred examples of skin diseases encompass psoriasis, eczema, especially atopic eczema and disorders of pigmentation of the skin, especially vitiligo. Examples of disorders of wound healing are wounds of patients suffering from diabetes or alcoholism, wounds infected with microorganisms, ischemic wounds and wounds of patients with impaired circulation or venous stasis. Especially preferred examples of badly healing wounds are diabetic, neuropathic, venous and arterial ulcers, especially diabetic ulcers.
The autonomous character of carcinomatous disorders is also seen at the therapeutic level. In the case of non-metastasizing tumors, cancer can be treated surgically. This physical treatment is possible, as no interactions take place between tumor cells and the surrounding cells and tissues, so that the patient can be cured by simple excision of the tumor, whereas this is not possible in the case of skin diseases within the meaning of the invention—the pathological
Goppelt Andreas
Halle Jörn-Peter
Regenbogen Johannes
Werner Sabine
Wolf Eckard
Clark & Elbing LLP
Falk Anne-Marie
Sullivan Daniel M
Switch Biotech AG
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