Patent ID: 6534476
Filing Date: 2003-03-18
Classification: A01K,A61K,A61P,C07K

Abstract:
An isolated polypeptide encoded by an isolated nucleic acid molecule selected from the group consisting of:(a) nucleic acid molecules which hybridize under stringent conditions to a molecule consisting of the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 and which code for a polypeptide which inhibits TGF-&bgr; superfamily signalling, provided that the nucleic acid molecules exclude sequences consisting only of SEQ ID NO:4, wherein the stringent conditions are selected from the group consisting of (1) hybridization at 65Â° C. in hybridization buffer (3.5Ã—SSC, 0.02% Ficoll, 0.02% polyvinyl pyrrolidone, 0.02% Bovine Serum Albumin, 2.5 mM NaH2PO4(pH7), 0.5% SDS, 2 mM EDTA), wherein SSC is 0. 15M sodium chloride/0.15M sodium citrate, pH7, SDS is sodium dodecyl sulphate, and EDTA is ethylenediaminetetracetic acid; and (2) hybridization at 65Â° C. in 5Ã—SSC, 1% SDS, 5Ã—Denhardt's solution and 10 &mgr;g/ml salmon sperm DNA, (b) nucleic acid molecules that differ from the nucleic acid molecules of (a) in codon sequence due to the degeneracy of the genetic code, and (c) complements of (a) and (b), wherein the polypeptide has a function selected from the group consisting of TGF-&bgr; superfamily signalling inhibitory activity, inhibition of T&bgr;R-I signaling, inhibition of ActR-I signaling, inhibition of BMPR-IB signaling, inhibition of Smad1 phosphorylation, inhibition of Smad2 phosphorylation, binding to T&bgr;R-I, binding to ActR-I and binding to BMPR-IB.