Patent ID: 7695948
Filing Date: 2010-04-13
Classification: C07K,C12N

Abstract:
1. A method for inhibiting the cleavage of a substrate by an isolated and purified polypeptide capable of converting TNF-α from the 26 kD form to the 17 kD form, the method comprising forming a mixture of said polypeptide, a substrate, and an isolated antibody that binds to said polypeptide, where in said polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of: (a) the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2; (b) the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 from amino acid 215 to amino acid 477; (c) the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 from amino acid 18 to amino acid 477; (d) the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 from amino acid 18 to amino acid 671; (e) the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 from amino acid 18 to amino acid 824; (f) the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 from amino acid 18 to Xaa, wherein Xaa is an amino acid from 671 to 824; (g) the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:4; (i) a fragment of SEQ ID NO:2 such that a polypeptide with an amino acid sequence consisting of said fragment is capable of converting TNF-α from the 26 kD form to the 17 kD form.