Patent ID: 6605443
Filing Date: 2003-08-12
Classification: A01K,A61K,A61P,C07K

Abstract:
A method for identifying a lead compound for a pharmacological agent useful in the diagnosis or treatment of disease associated with Smad7 TGF-&bgr; superfamily inhibitory activity, comprisingforming a mixture comprising a Smad7 polypeptide, a TGF-&bgr; superfamily receptor complex, and a candidate pharmacological agent, incubating the mixture under conditions which, in the absence of the candidate pharmacological agent, permit a first amount of specific binding of the TGF-&bgr; superfamily receptor complex by the Smad7 polypeptide, and detecting a test amount of the specific binding of the TGF-&bgr; superfamily receptor complex by the Smad7 polypeptide, wherein reduction of the test amount of specific binding relative to the first amount of specific binding indicates that the candidate pharmacological agent is a lead compound for a pharmacological agent which disrupts the Smad7 TGF-&bgr; superfamily signal transduction inhibitory activity, and wherein increase of the test amount of specific binding relative to the first amount of specific binding indicates that the candidate pharmacological agent is a lead compound for a pharmacological agent which enhances the Smad7 TGF-&bgr; superfamily signal transduction inhibitory activity.