HUMAN BMP-2 PROMOTER AND METHOD FOR EXPLORING BONE-RELATED SUBSTANCE BY USING THE SAME

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for exploring low molecular weight compounds which regulate positively or negatively the expression of the human BMP-2 with reference to a reporter activity by using 5' upstream region gene containing the human BMP-2 promoter and an animal cell introduced with a recombinant expression vector which has been connected to an appropriate reporter gene. The low molecular weight susbtances and their derivatives obtained by the present method have morphogenetic activity and inhibiting activity for bone and cartilage through the expression of human BMP-2 and are useful as preventive or therapeutic agents for bone and cartilage diseases.

Description: HUMAN BMP-2 PROMOTER AND METHOD FOR EXPLORING BONE-RELATED SUBSTANCE BY USING THE SAME BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (1) Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a 5 ' upstream region DNA containing a promoter of a human bone morphogenetic protein (hereinafter called BMP-2). Further, the present invention provides a method for exploring a low molecular weight compound positively or negatively which regulates the expression of human BMP-2 by using a mass of animal cells that are introduced with a 5 ' upstream region DNA containing the human BMP-2 promoter and a structure connected to a suitable reporter gene, and by using a reporter activity as an indicator. (2) Description of the Related Art Many substances have been known as usable for healing of bone deficit, fracture, etc. by inducing bone regeneration. Among them, BMP is a protein belonging to TGF (transforming growth factor) -β superfamily and has been formerly found as a substance inducing ectopic ossification and existing in a decalcified product of a bone (Trends in Biotechnol. 11: 379- 383, 1993) . BMP members known so far range from BMP-1 to BMP-14. Among them, the members from BMP-2 to BMP-14 have been known as showing the bone morphogenetic activity. BMP-2 has been known as having the strongest activity of bone morphogenesis (Science 242: 1528-1534). It has been known that recombinant BMP-2 induces ectopic ossification (Proc. Natnl Acad. Sci. USA 87: 2220-2224, 1990), and is effective to bone deficit in animal model (J. Bone and Joint Surg. 74A, 659-670, 1992) . The BMP proteins, particularly ranging from BMP-2 to BMP-14, are effective to therapeutic and preventive treatments of various bone disturbances and bone diseases. However, the BMP proteins exist in very small quantity in nature, and for an available large quantity for therapeutic use, production of a recombinant protein is necessary. The production of the recombinant protein generally is very expensive rather than the preparation of a small molecular substance. Moreover, there are many restrictions as a medical drug in terms of physical properties or administration methods due to its proteinic characteristics. Considering these points, a low molecular organic compound having the equal activity to that of said BMP protein, if any, will become a highly promising medical drug. For such an exploring method, an example was so far reported using a murine BMP-2 promoter (W097/15308 ) . The region of the murine BMP-2 promoter has been already cloned (Biochem. Biophys. Acta, Vol. 1218, p. 221-224,1994), but no report has been published for the region of human BMP-2 promoter and an exploring method employing the human BMP-2 promoter. A comparison of the DNA sequence of 741 bp of the 5 ' upstream exon region of said murine BMP-2 promoter with the corresponding human BMP-2 promoter sequence (the base sequence No. from 4709 to 5483 shown in SEQ ID NO. 1 of the Sequence Listing) of the present invention shows 71.6% homology between these two sequences. Because all the materials used for establishing the exploring method presented by the present invention are of human origin, the substance discovered from exploration can be quite effective in clinical application. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a 5' upstream region DNA containing a promoter of human BMP-2. By using 5' upstream region gene containing the human BMP-2 promoter and an animal cell introduced with the recombinant expression vector which has been connected to an appropriate reporter gene, the low molecular weight compounds which regulate positively or negatively the expression of human BMP-2 can be explored with reference to a reporter activity. The low molecular weight compounds and their derivatives have morphogenetic activity and inhibiting activity for bone and cartilage through the expression of human BMP-2 and are useful as preventive or therapeutic agents for bone and cartilage diseases, remedies for osteometastasis, or therapeutic and preventive agents for osteohyperplasia . BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is an exon-intron structure of 6.7 kb 5' upstream region of human BMP-2 gene and a restriction enzyme map. A solid black shows an intron region. Fig. 2 is a recombinant expression vector (pBMP2) containing a 5 1 upstream region of human BMP-2 gene. A Smal- Sacl fragment (base No. from 482 to 5345 shown in SEQ ID NO. 1 of the Sequence Listing, referring to Fig. 1) was inserted to the restriction enzyme site of pGL3-basic. Fig. 3 is a result of measuring a human BMP-2 promoter activity (transiently expression) . DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The present invention relates to a DNA containing a human bone morphogenetic protein-2 promoter region having a base sequence No. from 1 to 6728 shown in the SEQ ID NO. 1 of the Sequence Listing, or fragments thereof. The SEQ ID NO. 1 of the Sequence Listing shows the 5' upstream region sequence of the human BMP-2 gene. The present invention relates to a method for preparing the DNA shown in SEQ ID NO. 1 of the Sequence Listing by conducting the following steps of: (1) screening of a PI phage human genomic DNA library by PCR method using a primer represented by SEQ ID NO. 2 and SEQ ID NO. 3 of the Sequence Listing, (2) digestion of the isolated PI phage with restriction enzymes Sail and Spel, (3) identification of the aimed fragment by Southern blotting, and (4) subcloning of the aimed fragment into pBluescript vector cut by the same enzymes. The present invention relates to a recombinant expression vector characterized by integration of the DNA shown in SEQ ID NO. 1 of the Sequence Listing. The vector integrated is not restricted in particular and can be used among ones commercialized. As a preferable example, pGL3 basic vector (a product of Pro Mega Ltd.) was used. It was connected to the base sequence shown in SEQ No. 1 of the Sequence Listing which had been treated with a restriction enzyme. Then, pBMP2 (9660 bp) was obtained to be a recombinant expression vector of the present invention. The present invention relates to a method for exploring a bone-related substance, characterized by using the full length or a part of DNA shown in SEQ ID NO. 1 of the Sequence Listing that is connected to a reporter gene. In other words, the present invention provides the method for exploring a substance that induces BMP-2, which is a member of BMP proteins. Since the substance obtained by the exploring method, although it is low molecular weight, has an effect on inducing an expression of human BMP-2, a bone formation factor, it is considered to have an effect equivalent to that of human BMP-2 and to be extremely useful. In detail, a plasmid vector (above-described recombinant expression vector) is constructed to locate a suitable region of the 5' upstream region of the human BMP-2 gene shown in SEQ ID NO. 1 of the Sequence Listing in front of a reporter gene, and it is necessary to introduce the recombinant expression vector to mammalian cells, preferably human osteoblast-like cells, such as SaOS-2 cells, with a liposome. The animal cells stably transfected with the recombinant expression vector are selected by using a resistance marker. By such an exploring method, osteogenesis inducing or inhibiting substances can be explored. The present invention also provides a method for exploring a substance, which inhibits the expression of human BMP-2. If human BMP-2 has some relationship with bone and cartilage hyperplasia, the hyperplasia diseases can be prevented by inhibiting the expression. A low molecular weight compound which induces or inhibits the expression of human BMP-2 can be obtained by isolating the promoter which regulates the expression of the gene, by connecting it to a suitable reporter gene and by introducing the gene structure to a suitable mammal cell to make an exploring system. The reporter gene such as luciferase gene and β-galactosidase gene shows an expressing status on behalf of an original product. A substance regulating the expression of human BMP-2 in the exploring system works on the promoter to increase or decrease the expression level of the reporter gene. Therefore, a simple and easy measurement of the reporter activity makes an exploration of the aimed substance possible. The animal cell transfected with said vector can be used for a method for screening a chemical compound library by high throughput screening (Nature, Vol. 384, Suppl., p. 14- 16, 1996) and finding an active substance from natural substances. The substance which increases or decreases an activity is searched by treating the cells with a substance for an appropriate time period and afterwards measuring the reporter activity. The compound obtained hereby can regulate the expression by working directly on a transcription factor or indirectly on the promoter of human BMP-2 through regulating a signal transduction system. Therefore, these compounds are effective as a therapeutic agent for osteocartilaginous diseases, cancer metastasis to bone, or osteohyperplasia . The substance obtained by the present invention has bone or cartilage morphogenetic activity and is effective as an agent for therapeutic and preventive treatment in the fields of orthopedic surgery (fracture, osteoarthritis such as joint osteoarthritis and hip joint osteoarthritis, arthrosteitis, damage of cartilage such as damage of meniscus, regeneration of bone and cartilage deficit caused by injury and tumor dissection, bone reconstruction such as spinal fusion and vertebral canal enlargement, and congenital cartilage and bone diseases such as dysoteogenesis and achondroplasia) , or dental fields (bone reconstruction such as palatoschisis, mandible reconstruction, and residual ridge construction) , and osteoporosis. Moreover, the substance of the present invention can be used for bone graft in aesthetic surgery. These therapeutic treatments are effective to therapies in the fields of veterinary surgery. On the other hand, the present invention can provide a substance which inhibits bone or cartilage morphogenesis. In this case, the substance is applied as an agent for prevention and therapy of bone and cartilage hyperplasia. EXAMPLES This invention shall be more illustratively explained by way of the following Examples. Example 1 Cloning of human BMP-2 genomic DNA PCR reaction was carried out by using a primer B2-3 shown in SEQ ID NO. 2 of the Sequence Listing and a primer B2-7 shown in SEQ ID NO. 3 of the Sequence Listing under the condition of 94°C for 1 min, 60°C for 30 sec, and 72°C for 30 sec, and a human genomic DNA library of a PI phage vector (a product of Genome System Ltd.) was subjected to screening. Under this condition, a 270 bp band occurs by using a human placenta genomic DNA as a template (a product of CloneTech) . P21, one of 2 phage vector clones obtained by such method, was digested by Sail and Spel at 37 °C for 2 hours, respectively. A fragment of ca. 6.7 kb length containing the 5' upstream region of human BMP-2 gene was identified by the conventional Southern blotting method using a primer shown in SEQ ID NO. 4 of the Sequence Listing. The fragment of Sall- Spel was connected to the pBluescript vector having been treated with the same enzymes by using Takara Ligation Kit (a product of Takara Shuzo Ltd.). The vector was named E. coli P6.7B2 vector. The E. coli P6.7B2 was deposited in National Institute of Bioscience and Human-Technology, Agency of Industrial Science and Technology, Ministry of International Trade and Industry 1-3, Higashi 1-chome, Tsukuba-shi Ibaraki- ken 305-8566 Japan, in March 30, 1998 with depository number FERM P-16735 and transferred to the International Depository Authority under Budapest Treaty on February 17, 1999 (Deposit No. FERM BP-6649) . Example 2 Determination of DNA sequence of human BMP-2 promoter The sequence of the human BMP-2 promoter region was determined by ALF automatic DNA sequencer (a product of Amersham Pharmacia Biotech Ltd.) using P6.7B2 vector and a vector that was prepared by further subcloning of the inserted fragment of 6.7 kb of said vector as a template. Reading started from both ends was repeated at least three times. A site difficult in reading was subcloned to read the sequence starting from both ends. The sequence of ca. 6.7 kb promoter region and the structure thereof were shown in SEQ ID NO. 1 of the Sequence Listing and Fig. 1, respectively. Example 3 Construction of a recombinant expression vector that was prepared by connecting a human BMP-2 promoter to a luciferase reporter gene Ncol-Smal fragment of the 5 1 upstream region of the human BMP-2 gene containing a promoter region was connected to a pGEM5zf (+) vector (a product of Pro Mega Ltd.) digested by Ncol and EcoRV . The vector prepared was treated with Notl and Apal restriction enzymes and connected to a pGEMllzf (+) vector (a product of Pro Mega Ltd.) prepared by treatment with the same enzymes. flindlll-Sall fragment of this vector was connected to a pGL3-basic vector (a product of Pro Mega Ltd.) treated with Hindlll-Xλol . The vector obtained was treated with ZVcoI and Bamttl and connected to a NcoI-BamHI fragment of the BMP-2 gene. Further, the vector obtained was treated with Pstl and Sad and connected to a Pstl-Sacl fragment of the BMP-2 gene to obtain the aimed recombinant expression vector. The recombinant expression vector obtained was shown in Fig. 2. The recombinant expression vector pBMP2 (9660 bp) contains the 5 1 upstream region of ca . 5.1 kb of the human BMP-2 gene. Example 4 Measurement of activity of the human BMP-2 promoter In order to express transiently the recombinant expression vector pBMP2, above-described vectors were mixed with a vector, pRL-SV40 (a product of Pro Mega Ltd. ) containing sea pansy luciferase gene as an internal control for measurement of efficiency of gene introduction in an equal quantity. Then, cationic liposome lipofectamine (a product of Lifetech Oriental Co.) was mixed with thus obtained to add to human osteosarcoma cells HOS for transfection. Fire fly luciferase activity and sea pansy luciferase activity were measured by Pikka Gene Dual Kit (a product of Toyo Ink Co.). The result is shown in Fig. 3. The longitudinal axis represents a promoter activity that was expressed as a ratio of fire fly luciferase activity to sea pansy luciferase activity. From the result, it has been known that the DNA of SEQ ID NO. 1 of the Sequence Listing has a promoter activity. Example 5 Introduction of the recombinant expression vector pBMP2 to a human cell and stabilized expression In order to express the recombinant expression vector pBMP2 stably, said vector was mixed with the vector pPUR (a product of CloneTech Ltd.) containing puromycin resistant gene in the proportion of 10 : 1 and also mixed with cationic liposome lipofectamine (a product of Lifetech Oriental Co.) and added to a human osteosarcoma cell HOS for transfection. The cells to which the aimed gene has been introduced were selected from a culture medium containing 0.5 μg/mL of puromycin (a product of Sigma Ltd. ) . Example 6 Screening of an active low molecular weight compound Cells selected were inoculated in a 96-well plate, treated with substances of various chemical compound libraries for 1 - 3 days, dissolved with cytolytic agent (a product of Pro Mega Ltd. ) , and measured for enzyme activity by employing a luciferase assay kit (a product of Pro Mega Ltd.). By such processes, various substances inducing or inhibiting the expression of human BMP-2 can be explored. Sequence Listing Free Text <210> 1 <223> Human BMP-2 5' upstream gene sequence including the intron region. <210> 2 <223> Sense PCR primer B2-3 for screening human BMP-2 gene corresponding to the exon of the coding region. <210> 3 <223> Reverse PCR primer B2-7 for screening human BMP-2 gene corresponding to the exon of the coding region. <210> 4 <223> Sense PCR 5 ' -digoxigenin labeled primer for Southern blotting corresponding to 5' upstream human BMP-2 gene region.

Claims: What is claimed is : 1. A DNA whose nucleotide sequence is represented by the base sequence No. from 1 to 6728 shown in SEQ ID NO. 1 of the Sequence Listing that encodes a human bone morphogenetic protein-2 promoter region, or a fragment thereof. 2. A method for preparing the DNA shown in SEQ ID NO. 1 of the Sequence Listing comprising the following steps of: (1) screening of a PI phage human genomic DNA library by PCR method using a primer represented by SEQ ID NO. 2 and SEQ ID NO. 3 of the Sequence Listing, (2) digestion of the isolated PI phage with restriction enzymes Sail and Spel, (3) identification of the aimed fragment by Southern blotting, and (4) subcloning of the aimed fragment into pBluescript vector cut by the same enzymes. 3. A recombinant expression vector characterized by integration of the DNA shown in SEQ ID NO. 1 of the Sequence Listing into a reporter gene. 4. A method for exploring a bone-related substance characterized by using the full length or a part of DNA shown in SEQ ID NO. 1 of the Sequence Listing that is connected to a reporter gene . 5. The method for exploring a bone-related substance according to claim 4, wherein the bone-related substance is osteogenesis inducing substance. 6. The method for exploring a bone-related substance according to claim 4, wherein the bone-related substance is osteogenesis inhibiting substance.

Inventors: SUGIURA TAKEYUKI, SUGIURA, TAKEYUKI
Applicants: HOECHST MARION ROUSSEL LTD, SUGIURA TAKEYUKI, HOECHST MARION ROUSSEL LTD., SUGIURA, TAKEYUKI
Application year: 1999
Main classification: C12N15
IPC codes: A61K38, A61P43, C07K14, C12N5, C12N15, C12Q1, C12R1