NOVEL GENES TZAP7/A, TZAP7/B AND TZAP7 INVOLVED IN T CELL ACTIVATION AND USES THEREOF

Abstract: Described are generally immune response cDNA TZap7/A, TZap7/B and TZap7 polynucleotides encoding novel proteins involved in modulation of immune responses and antibodies recognizing said proteins. Furthermore, vectors comprising the aforementioned polynucleotides and host cells transformed therewith as well as their use in the production of the above-defined proteins are described. Additionally, pharmaceutical and diagnostic compositions are provided comprising any one of the afore-described polynucleotides, vectors, proteins, or antibodies. Furthermore, methods and uses for modulating immune responses through the novel TZap protein as well as pharmaceutical compositions comprising agents which act on the TZap protein or its ligand are described. also, the use of said polynucleotides, vectors, proteins or antibodies for the preparation of diagnostic and pharmaceutical compositions for use in organ transplantation, for the treatment of autoimmune, allergic or infectious diseases, or for treatment of tumors is provided.

Description: NOVEL GENES TZAP7/A, TZAP7/B AND TZAP7 INVOLVED IN T Cell Activation and Uses Thereof FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention pertains generally to TZap κιnasε 7 cDNAs TZap7/A TZap7/B and TZap7 encoding novel immune response modulating croteiπs as well as peptides and polypeptides derived therefrom and antiDodies recognizing said (poly)peptιdes In a first aspect the present invention relates to TZap7/A TZaD7/B and TZap7 cDNAs and their encoded proteins In a further asoect the present invention relates to polynucleotides αeπved from said TZap7/A TZaD7/B and TZap7 cDNAs encoding a peDtiαe or DolyDeDtide being caoabie of modulating immune responses Furthermore tne Dreseπt invention relates to vectors comprising such polynucieotiαεs and host cells transformed therewith as well as their use in the proαuction of the aDove-defiπed peDtides or polypeptides. In addition, the present invention relates to the (poly)peptιde encoded by said polynucleotides or obtainable by the method of the invention In another important aspect the present invention relates to antiboαies against said TZap7/A, TZap7/B and TZap7 proteins Furtnermore the present invention relates to the use of antisense polynuclεotiαes ana vectors containing tne same for the suppression of growth of leukocytes in canicular lymDnocytes and mαnocytes Tne Dresεnt invention aααitiσπa y relates to pnarmaceutical and αiagnostic compositions comprising the aforemεntioπεd polynuciεotidεs vectors, proteins, or antiDodies Furthermore, the present invention relatεs to metnods ana uses for modulating immune resDonses through the novel TZao7/A TZaϋ7/B and TZaD7 oroteins as wεll as to pnarmacεutical comDositions comDπsing agεnts whicn act on tne TZaD7/A, TZap7/B and TZaϋ7 proteins ortneir iigand Also the invention relates to the use of the before-αεscriDεα poiynucleotide vector, protein or antiDoαy for the oreoaration of pnarmaceutical comDositions for use in organ transolantation for the treatment of autoimmune aherαic or infectious diseases or for treatment of tumors Furthermore, the present invention relates to methods for modulating (antigen-specific) T, B, NK cell or moπocyte (uπ)respoπsιveness Sεveral documents are cited throughout the text of this specification Each of the documents cited herein (including any manufacturer's specifications, instructions, etc ) are hereby incorporated herein by reference however there is no admission that any document cited is indeεd prior art as to the present invention BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION T cell activation is accompanied with sequεπtial changes in the expression of various genes over several days and involves multiple signaling pathways [1] Stimulation of T cells is initiated by the interaction of antigen-specific T cell receptors (TCR) with MHC bound aπtigenic peptides presented on the surface of antigen presenting cells (APC), but full proliferate T cell response requires additional costimulatory signals which are provided by the interaction of proteins expressed on the surface of T cells and APC [2,3 4,5] In addition, a number of cytokiπes as well as other proteins are known to augment T cell activation, although many of them appear not to be essential for the basic pro ferativε T cell responsε [3,6] Morεover, a growing body of evidencε indicates that the microtubule cytoskeletoπ of lymphocytes plays a major role in T cell activation Stimulation of T cells was demonstrated to result in molecular rearrangement in the actin cytoskeleton leading to re-localization and concentration of signaling molecules in restricted areas of the cell membrane close to the bound APC [7,8,9] Although considerable information on T cell activation has been gathered in recent years, the complex molecular mechanisms of stimulation and signaling pathways are not completely understood Since T cell activation provides the central event in various types of inflammation as well as in autoimmune disease and graft rejection, knowledge about the distinct steps and molecules involved in the stimulation process is of considerable biomedical importance, as they might provide targets for therapeutic modulation of the immune response Therapeutic prevention of T cell activation in organ transplantation and autoimmune diseases presently relies on paπimmuπosuppressive drugs interfering with downstream intracellullar events Specific modulation of the T cell response remains a longstanding goal in immunologica! resεarch SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The presεnt invention relates to polynucleotides encoding a novel immune response modulating protein Furthermore, the presεπt iπvεntion relates to peptides and polypeptides derived therefrom as well as to antibodies More particularly, the present invention relates to applications in the medical field that directly arise from the polynucleotides, protein, peptides, (poly)peptιdes and antibodies of the invention Additionally, the present invention relates to a novel method for testing modulators of the immune response The pharmaceutical compositions, methods and uses of the invention are useful therapeutically in situations where it is desirable to modulate (antigen-specific) immune responses, e g , to induce and maintain (antigen-specific) T cell or B-cell unrespoπsiveπess or restore (antigen-specific) B or T cell responsivεness For example, it may be necessary to induce or maintain T cell unrespoπsiveness in a subject who has received an organ or bone marrow transplant to prevent graft rejection by inhibiting stimulation through the TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 protein In addition, T cell unresponsiveness can be maintained by blocking TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 stimulation in a subject who has an autoimmune disease to alleviate symptoms of the autoimmune disease In these cases, a TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 inhibitory agent is administered to the subject in an amount and over a period of time sufficient to maintain T cell unresponsiveness Alternatively, T cell uπresponsivenεss can be reversed in a subject bearing a tumor to stimulate a tumor specific NK and T cell response or in a subject receiving a vaccine to enhance the efficacy of the vaccine For example, a cell (e g , a tumor cell) can be modified to exprεss a TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 ligand or a TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 stimulatory agent can be administered to the subject bearing a tumor or who has had a tumor surgically removed to prevent recurrence of the tumor BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS This disclosure may best be understood in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, incorporated herein by references, which show Figure 1 : Human TZap B (Zap-consensus) ammo acid sequεπce shares a high degree of identity with notchless protεin in two drffεrent species (Xenopus and Drosophila) as shown in boxes Figure 2: Human TZap A (Tzap7/A) ammo acid sequence shows high degree of identity with notchless proteins in Xenopus and Drosophila Figure 3: The ammo acid sequence comparison between human TZap7 ammo acid sequence and betatraπsducin proteins exhibits a number of motif-homology stretches to betatransducin protein within the 3' region (boxes) Figure 4: Human TZap7 ammo acid sequence shows high degreε of identity with notchless proteins in Xenopus and Drosphila DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION In view of the need of therapeutic means for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases related to immune responses of the human body, the technical problem of the invention is to provide means and methods for the early detection and modulation of immune cell responses which are particularly useful in organ transplantation and autoimmune diseases The solution to this technical problem is achieved by providing the embodiments characterized in the claims, namely novel immune response modulating proteins encoded by cell immune response cDNAs designated TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 are described which exhibit a central role in T cell activation Thus, targeting of TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 protein and its encoding gene provides a novel therapeutic approach for modulation of the immune response Accordingly, the invention relates to a polynucleotide encoding a TZap protein or a biologically active fragment thereof comprising a DNA sequence selected from the group consisting of (i) DNA sequences comprising a nucleotide sequεπce encoding the ammo acid sequence depicted in SEQ ID NO 2, 4 or 6, (n) DNA sequεnces comprising the πucleotidε sεquεncε depicted in SEQ ID NO 1 , 3 or 5, (in) DNA sequences comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding a fragment or derivative of the protein encoded by the DNA sequence of (i) or (n), (iv) DNA sequences the complεmεπtary strand of which hybridizes with and which is at least 70% identical to the polynucleotide as defmεd in any one of (i) to (in), and (v) DNA sequences the nucleotidε of which is dεgεnεratε to the nucleotide sequence of a DNA sequence of any one of (i) to (iv) The terms "TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 protein" and "TZap" arε usεd interchangeably herein and in accordance with the present invention, denote a protein involved in the modulation of immune responses, e g modulating activation and differentiation of T cells Studies which had been carried out within the scope of the present invention revealed that antisense polynucleotides directed to the mRNA encoding TZap protein are able to efficiently activate Notch, a class of proteins involved in signal transduction further explained in Example 1 The term "leukocytes" generally denotes all kinds of white blood cells and preferably refers to moπocytes and lymphocytes (B, T and NK cells), either in combination or individually Thus, it should be understood that the term leukocyte may also be used herein so as to refer to individual species of leukocytes such as T cells only The term "biologically active fragment thereof refεrs to peptides and polypeptides that are derived from said TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 protein and that are capable of effecting substantially the same or similar activity or at least one of said activities of TZap7/A (29 kDA), TZap7/B (53 kDA) and/or TZap7 (53 kDA) In accordance with the present invention, novel genes induced in the early stage of T cell activation have been identified by examining mRNA expression in alloactivated human lymphocytes. Differential display-reverse transcription PCR analysis revealed a 230 bp cDNA fragment which was upregulated 24 h after allostimulation of a human T cell line and three corresponding cDNAs designated TZap7/A, TZap7/B and TZap7, respectively, have been cloned, see Example 1 Expression studies with TZap7/A on mRNA of tissues from the human immune system revealed two bands of 1200 nt and 4000 πt, respectively No differences in the expression level of human Nle in spleen, lymph Node, thymus, peripheral blood leukocytes, bone marrow and fetal liver could be detected Most of these expression domains correspond to regions where Notch signaling has been implicated in cell fate specifications Overexpression of notchless in the AKR1010 DP thymoma cell line leads to an activation of Notch resulting in a high level expression of TCR Control cells do not exhibit detεctablε amounts of TCR on their surface Application of antisense RNA of TZap7/A to bone marrow and thymus of mice, resulted in an activation of Notch In thymus this activation leads to a slight increase of CD8 T cells over CD4 T cells In bone marrow, an increase of thymic-iπdependent T cells was demonstrated, although this increase was not accompanied by a persistent block in B cell maturation, as it was shown for Notch overexpressioπ in the bone marrow (Pui JC, Allman D, Xu L, DeRocco S, Karnell FG, Bakkour S, Lee JY, Kadesch T, Hardy RR, Aster JC, Pear WS (1999) Notchl exprεssion in early lymphopoiesis influences B versus T lineage determination Immunity, 11 , 299-308) TZap7/A, TZap7/B and TZap7 share homology with two different family of proteins which are involved in directing the immune responsε in different ways Beta-traπsducin is one of the threε subuπits of the guaπine πucleotide-biπdmg proteins (G proteins) which act as intermediaries in the transductioπ of signals generated by transmembrane receptors (Neεr EJ, Schmidt CJ, Nambudπpad R, Smith TF (1994) Thε ancient regulatory-protein family of WD-repeat proteins Nature, 371 , 297-300 and Neer EJ and Smith TF (1996) G protein heterodimεrs new structures propel new questions Cell, 84, 175-178) In higher eukaryotes G-beta exists as a small multigeπe family of highly conserved proteins They consist of eight tandem repeats of about 40 residues, each containing a central Trp-Asp motif which is called also WD-40 repeat Beta-transducin rεpeat containing protein (HSBTRCP) has beεn shown to interact with HIV-1 Vpu which connects CD4 to the ER degradation pathway (Smith TF, Gaitatzes CG, Saxena K, Neer EJ (1999) Thε WD rεpeat a common architecture for diverse functions TIBS, 24, 181 -185) On one side, TZap7/A, TZap7/B and TZap7 share high percentage of identity on the nucleotidε level within the 3'-regιon with beta-transducin family proteins supporting the hypothesis to be functionally involved in mediating the immune reaction during the course of response to an antigen On the other side the same region is homoiogue to thε notchless proteins in different species All these proteins have in common that they share WD-repεat motifs and arε dirεctly involved in early signalling cascade upon cell activation Based on the homologies, it can be concluded that modulation of TZap by using aπtisensε, small molecule, antibody as well as ovεrεxpression of the TZap proteins might lead to selected modulation of immune response and can serve as a novel target to treat diseasεs involving uπdεsired immune reaction From the abovε it is evident that the nucleotide sequences depicted in SEQ ID No 1 , 3 and 5 encode novel immune response modulating proteins By the provision of this nucleotide sequence it is now possible to isolate identical or similar polynucleotidεs which code for proteins with the biological activity of TZap7/A, TZap7/B and TZap7 from other species or organisms Well- established approaches for the identification and isolation of such related sequεncεs are, for example, the isolation from genomic or cDNA libraries using the complete or part of the disclosed sequence as a probe or the amplification of corresponding polynucleotides by polymerase chain reaction using specific primers Thus, the invention also relates to polynucleotides which hybridize to the above- dεscπbεd polynucleotides and differ at one or more positions in comparison to these as long as they encode a TZap7/A, TZap7/B or TZap7 protein as definεd above Such molecules comprise those which are changεd, for εxample, by deletιoπ(s), ιnsertιon(s), alteratιon(s) or any othεr modification known in the art in comparison to the above described polynucleotides eithεr alone or in combination Methods for introducing such modifications in the polynuclεotidεs of thε invention are well-known to the person skilled in the art, see, e g , Sambrook et al (Molecular cloning, A Laboratory Manual, Second Edition, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Prεss, Cold Spring Harbor NY (1989)) The invention also relates to polynucleotides the nucleotide sequence of which differs from the nucleotide sequence of any of the above-described polynucleotides due to the degeneracy of the geπεtic codε With respect to the DNA sequεπces characterized under (iv) above, the term "hybridizing" in this context is understood as referring to conventional hybridization conditions, prefεrably such as hybridization in 50%formamιdε/6xSSC/0 1 %SDS/100μg/ml ssDNA, in which tεmperatures for hybridization are above 37°C and temperatures for washing in 0 1 xSSC/0 1 %SDS are above 55°C Most preferably the term "hybridizing" refers to stringent hybridization conditions, for example such as described in Sambrook, supra Nucleic acid hybridization will be affectεd by such conditions as salt concεntration, temperature, solvents, the base composition of the hybridizing species, length of thε complεmεntary rεgions, and the number of nucleotide base mismatches betwεεn thε hybridizing nucleic acids, as will be readily appreciatεd by those skilled in the art "Stringent hybridization conditions" and "stringent wash conditions" in the context of nucleic acid hybridization experiments depεnd upon a numbεr of different physical parameters The most important parameters include tempεraturε of hybridization, basε composition of the nucleic acids, salt concεntration and lεngth of thε nuclεic acid Oπε having ordinary skill in thε art knows how to vary thεse parametεrs to achiεvε a particular stringency of hybridization In general, "stringent hybridization" is performεd at about 25°C bεlow the thermal melting point (T m) for the specific DNA hybrid under a particular set of conditions "Stringent washing" is performεd at tεmpεratures about 5°C lower than the Tm for the specific DNA hybrid under a particular set of conditions The Tm is the tempεrature at which 50% of the target sequεπcε hybridizes to a perfectly matched probe See Sambrook et al , page 9 51 , hereby incorporated by refεrεncε The Tm for a particular DNA-DNA hybrid can be estimatεd by thε formula Tm = 81 5°C + 16 6 (log10[Na+ ]) + 0 41 (fraction G + C) - 0 63 (% formamidε) - (600/I) whεre I is the length of the hybrid in base pairs The Tm for a particular RNA-RNA hybrid can be estimated by the formula Tm = 79 8°C + 18 5 (log10[Na+ ]) + 0 58 (fraction G + C) + 1 1 8 (fraction G + C)2 - 0 35 (% formamide) - (820/I) The Tm for a particular RNA-DNA hybrid can be estimated by the formula Tm = 79 8°C + 18 5(log10[Na+ ]) + 0 58 (fraction G + C) + 1 1 8 (fraction G + C)2 - 0 50 (% formamide) - (820/I) In general, thε Tm dεcreases by 1 -1 5°C for each 1 % of mismatch betweεπ two nuclεic acid sεquences Thus, onε having ordinary skill in thε art can altεr hybridization and/or washing conditions to obtain sεquεπcεs that havε higher or lower degrees of sequence identity to the target nucleic acid For instance to obtain hybridizing nucleic acids that contain up to 10% mismatch from the target nucleic acid sequence, 10-15°C would be subtracted from the calculated Tm of a perfectly matched hybrid, and then the hybridization and washing tempεraturεs adjusted accordingly Probe sequencεs may also hybridize specifically to duplex DNA under certain conditions to form triplex or other higher order DNA complexes The preparation of such probes and suitable hybridization conditions are well known in the art An example of stringent hybridization conditions for hybridization of complemεntary nucleic acid sequεnces having more than 100 complemεntary rεsiduεs on a filter in a Southern or Northern blot or for scrεεnmg a library is 50% formamιdε/6X SSC at 42°C for at least ten hours Another example of stringent hybridization conditions is 6X SSC at 68°C for at least ten hours An example of low stringency hybridization conditions for hybridization of complementary nucleic acid sequεπces having more than 100 complementary residues on a filter in a Southern or northern blot or for screening a library is 6X SSC at 42°C for at least ten hours Hybridization conditions to identify nucleic acid sequences that are similar but not identical can be identified by expεπmentally changing the hybridization temperature from 68°C to 42°C while keeping the salt concεntration constant (6X SSC) or keeping the hybridization tempεrature and salt concentration constant (e g 42°C and 6X SSC) and varying thε formamide concentration from 50% to 0% Hybridization buffers may also include blocking agents to lower background. These agents are well-known in the art. See Sambrook et al., pages 8.46 and 9.46-9.58, herein incorporated by reference. Wash conditions also can be altered to change stringency conditions. An examplε of stringent wash conditions is a 0.2x SSC wash at 65°C for 15 minutes (see Sambrook et al., for SSC buffer). Often the high stringency wash is preceded by a low stringency wash to remove excess probe. An exεmplary medium stringency wash for duplex DNA of more than 100 base pairs is 1 x SSC at 45°C for 15 minutes. An εxemplary low stringency wash for such a duplex is 4x SSC at 40°C for 15 minutes. In geπεral, signal-to-noisε ratio of 2x or highεr than that observed for an unrelated probε in the particular hybridization assay indicates detection of a specific hybridization. The term "percent sequεncε identity" or "identical" in the context of nucleic acid sequences refers to the residues in the two sequences which are the same when aligned for maximum correspondence. The length of sequencε identity comparison may be over a stretch of at least about nine nucleotides, usually at least about 20 nucleotides, more usually at least about 24 nucleotides, typically at least about 28 nucleotides, more typically at lεast about 32 nuclεotidεs, and prεfεrably at lεast about 36 or more nucleotides. There are a number of different algorithms known in the art which can be usεd to mεasure nucleotide sequence identity. For instance, polyπucleotidε sεquεnces can be compared using NCBI BLASTx and BLASTπ software. Altεmativεly, Fasta, a program in GCG Version 6.1. Fasta provides alignments and percεπt sεqueπcε idεntity of the regions of the best overlap betwεεn thε quεry and search sequences (Pearson, 1990, hεreiπ incorporated by reference). For instance, percent sequεncε identity between nucleic acid sequences can be detεrminεd using Fasta with its default parameters (a word size of 6 and the NOPAMfactor for the scoring matrix) as provided in GCG Version 6.1 , herein incorporated by reference. Particularly pr fεrrεd are polynucleotides which share 70%, preferably at least 85%, more prefεrably 90-95%, and most preferably 96-99% sequεncε idεntity with oπε of the above-mentioned polynucleotidεs and havε the same biological activity Such polyπucleotidεs also comprisε thosε which are altered for examplε by πuclεotidε dεlεtιon(s), ιnsεrtιon(s), substιtutιon(s), addιtιon(s), and/or rεcombιnatιon(s) and/or any othεr modιfιcatιon(s) known in thε art εither alone or in combination in comparison to the above-described polynucleotidεs Methods for introducing such modifications in the πucleotidε sεquεncε of thε polynucleotide of the invention are well known to the person skilled in the art Thus the presεπt iπvεπtion εncompassεs any polynuclεotide that can be denvεd from thε abovε-dεscnbεd polynuclεotidεs by way of gεπεtic eπgineεπng and that encode upon expression a TZap7/A TZap7/B and/or TZap7 protein or a biologically active fragment thereof It is also immediately evident to the person skilled in the art that regulatory sequεnces may be added to the polynucleotide of the invention For example, promoters, traπscπptional εnhancεrs and/or sεquεnces which allowfor induced expression of the polynucleotide of the invention may be employed A suitable inducible systεm is for εxamplε tεtracyclinε-rεgulated geπε expression as descnbεd, ε g , by Gosseπ and Bujard (Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 89 (1992), 5547-5551 ) and Gossen et al (Trends Biotech 12 (1994), 58-62) In a further embodimεπt, the invention relates to nucleic acid molecules of at least 15 nucleotides in length hybridizing specifically with a polynucleotidε as dεscnbed above or with a complementary strand thereof Specific hybridization occurs preferably under stringent conditions and implies no or very little cross- hybndization with nucleotide sequεnces encoding no or substantially different proteins Such nucleic acid molecules may be used as probes and/or for the control of gene expression Nucleic acid probe technology is well known to those skilled in the art who will readily appreciate that such probes may vary in length Prefεrrεd are nucleic acid probes of 17 to 35 nucleotidεs in lεngth Of course it may also be appropriate to use nucleic acids of up to 100 and more nucleotides in length The nucleic acid probes of the invention are useful for various applications On the one hand, thεy may be used as PCR primers for amplification of polynucleotides according to the invention Another apϋlication is the use as a hybridization probe to identify polynucleotides hybridizing to the polynucleotides of the invention by homology screening of genomic DNA libraries Nuclεic acid molεculεs according to this prεfεrrεd embodiment of the mvεntion which are complementary to a polynucleotide as descnbεd above may also be used for repression of expression of a gene comprising such a polynucleotide, for example due to an aπtiseπse or triple helix effect or for the construction of appropriate πbozymes (see, e g , EP-A1 0291 533, EP-A1 0321 201 , EP-A2 0 360 257) which specifically cleave the (pre)-mRNA of a gene comprising a polynucleotide of the invention Selection of appropriate target sites and corresponding πbozymes can be done as described for example in Stemecke, Ribozymes, Methods in Cell Biology 50, Galbraith et al eds Academic Press, Inc (1995), 449-460 Standard methods relating to antisεπsε technology have also been described (Melani, Cancer Res 51 (1991 ), 2897- 2901 ) Furthεrmorε, thε pεrson skilled in the art is well aware that it is also possible to label such a nucleic acid probe with an appropriate marker for spεcific applications, such as for thε detection of the presence of a polynucleotide of the invention in a sample derived from an organism The above described nucleic acid molecules may either be DNA or RNA or a hybrid thereof Furthermore, said nucleic acid molεculε may contain, for εxample, thioester bonds and/or nucleotide analogues, commonly used in oligonucleotide anti-sense approaches Said modifications may bε usεful for the stabilization of thε nuclεic acid molecule against endo- and/or εxonuclεases in the cell Said nucleic acid molecules may be transcribed by an appropriate vector containing a chimeric gene which allows for the transcription of said nucleic acid moleculε in the cell Such nucleic acid molecules may further contain πbozyme sεquences as descnbεd abovε In this respect, it is also to be understood that the polynucleotide of the invention can be used for "gene targeting" and/or "gene replacεment' for restoring a mutant gene or for creating a mutant gene via homologous recombination see for example Mouellic. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 87 (1990), 4712-4716 Joyner, Gene Targeting, A Practical Approach, Oxford University Press In a preferred embodiment said nucleic acid moleculεs are labεled Methods for the detection of nucleic acids are well known in the art, e g , Southern and northern blotting, PCR or primer extension In another prefεrrεd εmbodimeπt said nucleic acid moleculεs may be used for the suppression of TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 expression The polynucleotidε of the invention encoding the above described TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 protein or biologically active fragments thereof may be, e g , DNA, cDNA, RNA or synthεtically produced DNA or RNA or a recombmantly producεd chimeπc nucleic acid moieculε comprising any of thosε polynucleotides either alone or in combination Preferably said polynucleotide is part of a vector Such vectors may comprise further genes such as marker genεs which allow for the selection of said vector in a suitable host cell and under suitable conditions Preferably, the polynucleotide of the invention is opεratively linked to expression control sequences allowing expression in prokaryotic or eukaryotic calls Expression of said polynucleotide comprises transcription of the polynucleotide into a translatable mRNA Regulatory elements ensuring expression in eukaryotic cells, preferably mammalian cells, are well known to those skilled in the art They usually comprise regulatory sequences ensuring initiation of transcription and optionally poly-A signals εnsuπng termination of transcription and stabilization of thε transcript Additional regulatory elements may include transcriptioπal as well as translational enhancers, and/or naturally-associated or hetεrologous promotεr regions Possiblε regulatory elemεπts permitting expression in prokaryotic host cells comprise, e g , the P L , lac, trp or tac promoter in E coli, and εxamplεs for regulatory εlemeπts permitting expression in eukaryotic host cells are the AOX1 or GAL1 promoter in yeast or the CMV-, SV40- RSV-promoter (Rous sarcoma virus), CMV-enhancer, SV40-enhaπcer or a globin introπ in mammalian and other animal cells Beside elεmεnts which arε responsible for the initiation of transcription, such regulatory elements may also comprise transcription termination signals, such as the SV40-poly-A site or the tk-poly-A site, downstream of the polynucleotide Furthermore, depεnd g on the expression system used lεadεr sequences capable of directing the polypeptidε to a cellular compartment or secreting it into the medium may be added to the coding sequεπcε of thε polynuclεotide of the invention and are wεll known in thε art Thε leader sequence(s) is (are) assemblεd in appropriate phase with translation, initiation and termination sequεncεs, and preferably, a leader sequence capable of directing sεcretion of translated protein, or a portion thereof, into the pεπplasmic spacε or extracellular medium Optionally, the heterologous sequence can encode afusion protein including a C- or N-tεrmiπal identification peptide imparting desired characteristics, e g , stabilization or simplified purification of exprεssεd rεcombinant product In this contεxt, suitable expression vectors are known in the art such as Okayama-Berg cDNA εxpression vector pcDV1 (Pharmacia), pCDMδ, pRc/CMV, pcDNAI , pcDNA3 (In-vitrogeπe), or pSPORTI (GIBCO BRL) Prefεrably, thε expression control sequencεs will be εukaryotic promoter systems in vectors capable of transforming or transfecting eukaryotic host cells, but control sequences for prokaryotic hosts may also be used Once the vector has been incorporated into the appropriate host, the host is maintained undεr conditions suitable for high level expression of the nucleotide sequeπcεs, and, as desired, the collection and purification of the protein of the invεπtioπ may follow, see, e g , thε appεπdεd εxamplεs In onε preferred embodimεπt of thε present invention antisεπse constructs are made based on the polynucleotide of the invention and combined with an appropnatε expression control sequencε In accordancε with thε above, the presεπt invention relatεs to vectors, particularly plasmids, cosmids, viruses and bactεπophages used convεntionally in genetic engineering that comprise a polynucleotide of the invention Methods which are well known to those skilled in the art can be used to construct recombinaπt vectors, see, for exampiε, the techniques described in Sambrook, Molecular Cloning A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (1989) N Y and Ausubel, Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, Green Publishing Associates and Wiley intersciεnce, N Y (1989) Alternatively, the polynucleotides and vectors of the invention can be reconstitutεd into posomes for delivery to target cells The vectors containing the polynucleotides of the invention can be transferred into the host cell by well-known methods, which vary depending on the type of cellular host For example, calcium chloride transfectioπ is commonly utilized for prokaryotic cells, whereas calcium phosphate treatment or electroporation may be used for other cellular hosts, see Sambrook, supra In a still further embodiment, the present invention relates to a cell containing the polynucleotide or vector described above Preferably, said cell is a eukaryotic, most preferably a mammalian cell if therapeutic uses of the protein are επvisagεd Of course, yeast and less preferred prokaryotic, e g , bacterial cells may serve as well, in particular if the produced protein is used as a diagnostic means The polynucleotide or vector of the invention, which is present in the host cell, may either be integrated into the genome of the host cell or it may be maintained extrachromosomally The term "prokaryotic" is meant to include all bacteria which can be transformed or transfected with a DNA or RNA molecules for the expression of a protein of the invention Prokaryotic hosts may include gram negative as well as gram positive bacteria such as, for example, E coli, S typhimuπum, Serratia marcescens and Bacillus subtiiis The term "eukaryotic" is meant to include yeast, higher plant, insect and prefεrably mammalian cεlls Depending upon the host employed in a recombinaπt production procedure, the protein encodεd by the polynucleotide of the present invention may be glycosylated or may be non- glycosylatεd TZap7/A, TZap7/B and TZap7 proteins of the invention may also include an initial methionme ammo acid residue A polynucleotide of the invention can be usεd to transform or transfect the host using any of the techniques commonly known to those of ordinary skill in the art Furthermore, methods for preparing fused, operably linkεd gεnεs and expressing them in, e g , mammalian cells and bacteria are wεll-kπown in the art (Sambrook, Molecular Cloning A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, 1989) The TZap7/A, TZap7/B and TZap7 proteins of the invention can be produced by recombmant DNA tεchnoiogy in εukaryotic or prokaryotic hosts In general, expression vεctors containing promoter sequences which facilitate thε efficient transcription of the inserted polyπucleotidε are usεd in coπnεctioπ with thε host The expression vector typically contains an origin of replication, a promoter, and a terminator, as well as specific gεnεs which are capable of providing phenotypic selection of the transformed cells Furthermore, transgenic animals, preferably mammals, comprising cells of the invention may be used for the large scale production of the TZap7/A, TZap7/B and TZap7 proteins of the invention Alternatively, an animal, prefεrably mammalian, cell naturally having a polynucleotide of the invention presεπt in its genome can be used and modified such that said cell expresses the endogenous gene corresponding to the polynucleotide of the invention under thε control of an heterologous promoter The introduction of the heterologous promoter which doεs not naturally control thε εxpression of the polynucleotidε of thε invεπtioπ can bε done according to standard methods, see supra Suitable promoters include those mentioned hereinbefore Thus, in a further εmbodimeπt, the present invention relates to a method for the production of a TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 protein or a biologically active fragment thereof comprising (a) culturmg a host of the invention under conditions allowing for the expression of the protein, or (b) in vitro translation of the polynucleotide of the invention, and recovering the protein produced in (a) or (b) The transformed hosts can be grown in fermentors and cultured according to techniques known in the art to achiεve optimal call growth Thε TZap protein of the invention can then be isolated from the growth medium, cellular lysates, or cellular membrane fractions Once expressed, the protein of the present invention can be purified according to standard procedures of the art, including ammonium sulfate precipitation, affinity columns, column chromatography, gel electrophoresis and thε like, seε, Scopes, "Protein Purification", Spπnger- Verlag, N Y (1982) Substantially pure proteins of at least about 90 to 95% homogeneity are preferred, and 98 to 99% or more hσmogeπεity are most preferred, for pharmaceutical uses Once purified, partially or to homogeneity as desired, the proteins may then be used tnerapeutically (including εxtracorporeally) or in developing and performing assay procedures Hence, in a still further embodiment, the present invention relates to a TZap protein or a biologically active fragment thereof encoded by the polynucleotide of the invention or produced by a method of as descnbεd abovε It will bε apparent to those skilled in the art that the protein of the invention can be further coupled to other moieties as described above for, e g drug targεting and imaging applications Such coupling may bε coπductεd chemically after expression of the protein to site of attachment or the coupling product may be eπginεered into the protein of the invention at the DNA level The DNAs are then εxpressed in a suitable host system, and the expressεd proteins are collected and reπatured, if necessary Furthermore, the provision of the TZap7/A, TZap7/B and TZap7 proteins of the present invention enablεs the production of TZap specific antibodies In this respect, hybπdoma technology eπablεs production of cell lines secreting antibody to essentially any dεsirεd substance that produces an immune response RNA encoding the light and heavy chains of the immunoglobuiin can then be obtained from the cytoplasm of the hybπdoma The 5' end portion of the mRNA can be used to prepare cDNA to be inserted into an expression vector The DNA encoding the antibody or its immunoglobulin chains can subsequently be expressed in cells, preferably mammalian cells Depending on the host cell, renaturation techπiquεs may be required to attain proper conformation of the antibody If necessary, point substitutions seeking to optimize binding may be made in the DNA using conventional cassette mutagenεsis or other protein engineering methodology such as is disclosed herein Thus, the present invention also relates to an antibody specifically recognizing the pεptidε or polypeptide of the invention In a still further embodiment, thε present invention relates to a cell that has been modified to express a TZap protein or an antibody of the invention This embodiment may be well suited for, e g , restoring B and/or T cell responsiveness to an antigen, in particular if the antibody of the invention capable of stimulating T cell proliferation is expressed in a form suitable to be presented on the cell surface Moreover, the presεnt invention relatεs to pharmacεutical compositions comprising any one of the above described polynucleotides, vectors, cells, proteins and/or antibodies and/or a ligand capable of binding to the TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 protein of the invention The antibody or ligand compnsεd in thε pharmaceutical composition of the invention preferably has a specificity at least substantially lαentical to the binding specificity of the natural ligand of the TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZaD7 protein of the invention Such an antibody or ligand can have a binding affinity of at least 10 5 M '1 , preferably higher than 10 7 M '1 if leukocyte stimulation is envisaged and advantageously up to 10 10 M "1 in case leukocyte suppression should be mediated In a preferred embodiment of the invention, said antibody is a monoclonal antibody, a polyclonal antibody, a single chain antibody, humanized antibody, or fragment thereof that specifically binds said peptidε or polypεptide also including bispecific antibody, synthetic antibody, antibody fragment, such as Fab, Fv or scFv fragments etc , or a chemically modified derivative of any of these Monoclonal antibodies can be prepared, for examplε, by the techniquεs as originally dεscnbεd in Kohlεr and Milstein, Nature 256 (1975), 495, and G a If re, Meth Enzymol 73 (1981 ), 3, which comprise the fusion of mouse myeloma cells to spleen cells derived from immunized mammals with modifications developed by the art. Furthermore, antibodies or fragments thereof to the aforementioned peptides can be obta εd by using methods which are described, e.g , in Harlow and Lane "Aπtibodiεs, A Laboratory Manual", CSH Press, Cold Spring Harbor, 1988 When deπvativεs of said antibodies are obtained by the phage display techniquε, surface plasmon resonancε as εmployεd in thε BIAcore system can be used to increase the efficiency of phage antibodies which bind to an epitope of the peptide or polypeptide of the invention (Schier, Human Antibodies Hyb domas 7 (1996), 97-105, Malmborg, J Immunol. Methods 183 (1995), 7-13) Thε production of chimeπc antibodies is described, for examplε, in WO89/09622 Mεthods for thε production of humanized antibodies are described in, e g , EP-A1 0 239 400 and WO90/07861. A further source of antibodies to be utilized in accordance with the presεπt invention are so-called xeπogenic antibodiεs Thε general principle for the production of xenogenic antibodies such as human antibodies in mice is described in, e.g., WO 91/10741 , WO 94/02602, WO 96/34096 and WO 96/33735 Antibodies to be employed in accordance with the invention or their corresponding immunoglobulin chaιn(s) can bε furthεr modified using conventional techniques known in the art, for examplε, by using ammo acid dεlεtιon(s), ιnsertιon(s), substιtutιon(s), addιtιon(s), and/or rεcombιπatιoπ(s) and/or any othεr modιfιcatιon(s) known in the art either alone or in combination Methods for introducing such modifications in the DNA sequεnce underlying the am o acid sequεπce of an immunoglobulin chain are well known to the person skilled in the art; seε, e g , Sambrook Molecular Cloning A Laboratory Manual Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (1989) N Y The pharmaceutical composition of the present invention may further comprise a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier Examplεs of suitablε pharmaceutical carriers are wεll known in thε art and mcludε phosphate buffered saline solutions, water, emulsions, such as oil/water εmulsioπs various types of wetting agents, sterile solutions etc Compositions comprising such carnεrs can bε formulated by well-known conventional methods These pharmaceutical compositions can be administered to the subject at a suitable dose Administration of the suitable compositions may be effected by different ways, e g , by intravenous, intraperitoπeal, subcutaneous, intramuscular topical or intradermal administration Thε dosagε rεgimεn will be detεrminεd by the attending physician and clinical factors As is well known in the medical arts, dosages for any one patient dεpeπds upon many factors, including the patient's size, body surface area, agε, thε particular compound to bε administered, sex, time and route of administration, general health, and other drugs being administered concurrently A typical dose can be, for examplε, in thε rangε of 0 001 to 1000 μg (or of nucleic acid for expression or for inhibition of expression in this range), howevεr, dosεs bεlow or above this exεmplary raπgε are envisioned, especially considering the aforemeπtioπεd factors Gεnεrally, the regimen as a regular administration of the pharmaceutical composition should be in the range of 1 μg to 10 mg units per day If the regimen is a continuous infusion, it should also be in the range of 1 μg to 10 mg units per kilogram of body weight per minute, respectively Progress can be monitored by periodic assessment Dosages will vary but a preferred dosage for intravenous administration of DNA is from approximately 10 6 to 10 12 copies of the DNA molecule The compositions of thε invεntioπ may bε administεrεd locally or systεmically Administration will gεnεrally bε parεntεrally, e g , intravenously, DNA may also be administered directly to the target site e g , by biolistic delivery to an internal or external target site or by catheter to a site in an artery Preparations for pareπteral administration include sterile aqueous or non-aqueous solutions, suspensions, and emulsions Examples of non-aqueous solvents are propylenε glycol, polyεthyiεne glycol, vegεtablε oils such as o vε oil, and mjectable organic esters such as ethyl oleatε Aquεous carriers include water, alcoholic/aqueous solutions, εmuisioπs or suspεnsioπs including saline and buffered media Pareπtεral vehicles include sodium chloride solution, Ringer's dextrose, dextrose and sodium chloride, lactated Ringer's, or fixed oils Intravenous vehicles include fluid and nutrient replεnishεrs, electrolyte replεnishers (such as those based on Ringer's dextrose), and the like Preservatives and other additives may also be presεπt such as, for εxample, antimicrobials, anti-oxidaπts, chelatmg agents, and inert gases and the like Furthermore, the pharmaceutical composition of the invention may comprise further agents such as T cell costimulatory molecules or cytokmes known in the art, or their inhibitors or activators depεπdmg on the intended use of the pharmaceutical composition Furthermore, it is envisaged by the present invention that the various polynucleotides and vectors encoding the above described peptides or polypeptides are administered either alone or in any combination using standard vectors and/or gene delivery systems, and optionally together with a pharmaceutically acceptable earner or excipiεnt For example, the polynucleotidε of the invention can bε usεd alonε or as part of a vector to express the (poly)peptιdε of the invention in cells, for, e g , genε thεrapy or diagnostics of disεases related to disorders of the immune system The polynuclεotides or vectors of the invention are introduced into the cells which in turn produce the (poly)peptιdε Subsεquent to administration, said polynucleotides or vectors may be stably integrated into the genome of the subject On thε other hand, viral vectors may be used which are spεαfic for certain cells or tissues and persist in said cells Suitable pharmaceutical earners and excipients are well known in the art The pharmaceutical compositions prepared according to the invention can be used for the prevention or treatment or delaying of different kinds of diseasεs, which are related to lymphocyte and/or monocyte related immunodeficiencies and malignancies In another embodiment the present invention relatεs to a diagnostic composition comprising any one of the above described proteins, antibodies, (poly)peptιdεs, polynucleotides, vectors or cells, and optionally suitable means for detection The (poly)peptιdεs and antibodies described above are, for example, suited for use in immunoassays in which they can be utilized in liquid phase or bound to a solid phase earner -Examples of immunoassays which can utilize said (poly)peptιdεs are competitive and non-competitive immunoassays in either a direct or indirect format .Examples of such immunoassays are the radioimmuπoassay (RIA), the sandwich (immunometπc assay) and the Western blot assay The (poly)peptιdεs and antibodies can be bound to many different carriers and used to isolate cells specifically bound to said polypeptides EExamples of well-known carriers includε glass, polystyrenε, polyviπyl chloride, polypropylenε, polyεthylεπε, polycarbonate, dextran, nylon, amyloses, natural and modified cellulosεs, polyacryiamides, agaroses, and magnetite The nature of the carrier can bε εithεr solublε or insolublε for the purposes of the invention There are many different labels and methods of labeling known to those of ordinary skill in the art .Examples of the types of labels that can be used in the present invention include eπzymεs, radioisotopεs, colloidal mεtais, fluorεscεπt compounds, chemilumiπescent compounds, and biolumiπescent compounds Said diagnostic compositions may also bε used for methods for detecting expression of a polynucleotide of the invention by detecting the presence of mRNA coding for a TZap protein which comprises obtaining mRNA from a cell and contacting the mRNA so obtained with a probε comprising a nuclεic acid molecule of at least 15 nucleotides capable of specifically hybridizing with a polynucleotide of the mvεntion uπdεr suitable hybridizing conditions (see also supra), detecting the presence of mRNA hybridized to the probe, and thereby detecting the expression of the TZap protein by the cell Furthermore, the invention comprises methods of detecting the presence of a TZap protein in a sample, for example, a cell sample which comprises obtaining a cell sample from a subjεct, contacting said samplε with onε of the aforemeπtioπεd antibodies under conditions permitting binding of the antibody to the TZap protein, and detecting the prεsεncε of thε antibody so bound, for εxamplε, using immunoassay techniques such as radioimmunoassay or eπzymε-immuπoassay Furthermore, one skilled in the art may specifically detεct and distinguish polypεptides which are functional TZap protε s from mutatεd forms which havε lost or altered their immunomodulating activity by using an antibody which either specifically recognizes a (poly)peptιdε which has TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 activity but doεs not recognize an inactive form thereof or which specifically recognizes an inactive form but not the corresponding polypεptide having TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 activity The antibodies of the presεπt mvεntioπ may also be used in affinity chromatography for purifying the TZap proteins or above described (poly)peptιdεs and isolating them from various sources. The invention also encompasses a method for diagnosing in a subject a predisposition to a disorder associated with the expression of a TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 allele which comprises isolating DNA from victims of the disorder associated with the uπder-or over-expression of a TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 protein, digesting the isolated DNA with at least one restriction enzyme, electrophorεtically sεparatmg thε resulting DNAfragmεnts on a sizing gel, contacting the resulting gel with a nucleic acid proϋe as described above capable of specifically hybridizing to DNA encoding a TZap protein and labelεd with a detectable marker; detecting iabelεd bands on thε gel which have hybridized to the labelεd probe to create a band pattεrn specific to the DNA of victims of the disorder associatεd with the expression of a TZap protein, preparing the subject's DNA according to the above-mentioned steps to produce detεctable labelεd bands on a gel, and comparing the band pattern specific to the DNA of victims of the disorder associated with the expression of a TZap protein and the subjεct's DNA to dεtεrminε whether the patterns are thε same or different and to diagnose thereby predisposition to the disorder if the patterns are thε samε The detectable markers of the prεsεnt mvεπtion may be labeled with commonly employed radioactive labels, such as, for example, 32 P and 35 S, although other labels such as biotm or mercury as well as those descπbεd above may be employed as well Various methods well-known to the person skilled in the art may be used to label the detectable markers For example, DNA sequεnces and RNA sequεncεs may bε labεled with 32 P or 35 S using the random primer method Oπcε a suitable detectable marker has been obtained, various methods well-known to the person skilled in the art may be employεd for contacting the detεctable marker with the sample of interest For example, DNA-DNA, RNA-RNA and DNA-RNA hybridizations may be performed using standard procedures Various methods for the detection of nucleic acids are wεll-kπown in thε art, ε g , Southern and northern blotting, PCR, primer extεnsion and the like Furthermore the mRNA, cRNA, cDNA or genomic DNA obtained from the subject may be sequεπcεd to identify mutations which may be characteristic fingerprints of TZap mutations in disorders associated with the expression of TZap or mutated vεrsioπs thereof The present invention further comprises methods, wherein such a fingerprint may be generated by RFLPs of DNA or RNA obtained from the subject, optionally the DNA or RNA may be amplified prior to analysis, the methods of which are well known in the art RNA fingerprints may be performed by, for example, digesting an RNA sample obtained from the subject with a suitable RNA-Enzyme, for example RNase T,, RNase T 2 or the like or a πbozyme and, for example, electrophoretically separating and detεcting thε RNAfragmεπts on PAGE as described above or in the appended examplεs Advantageously, the pharmaceutical composition of the invention is intended for use in organ transplantation, for the treatment of autoimmune allergic or infectious diseases, or for the treatment of tumors An examplε for thε use of the pharmaceutical composition of the invention for improving allograft orxenograft tolerance is described with respεct to administration of an LFA-3 and CD2 binding protein, respεctively, in WO93/06852 In another embodiment, the present invention relates to a pharmaceutical composition comprising an agent which modulates immune response through the TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 protein of the invention, and optionally a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier As is immediately evident to the person skilled in the art, the provision of the novel TZap7/A, TZap7/B and TZap7 proteins of the invention opens up the way of alternative approaches for modulating immune responses and treating corresponding diseases The agεπt that, for example, stimulates the proliferation and/or differentiation of leukocytes through the TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 protein is εxpεctεd to markεdly εnhancε thε prolifεration of, e g., (activated) T cells and thus is capable of augmenting the immune responsε Examples for this type of "Vaccine" is described, e g., in WO91/11194 and in the literature, e g , referred to above The agents to be employed in accordance with the present invention usually specifically bind to TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 protein in order to exert their effect Such agents can be identified in accordance with a method of the invention described below Such agents also comprise promotεrs which can bε insεrted in front of the coding region of the TZap protein encoding gene, e g , via gene transfer and homologous recombination in the 5' untranslated region of the gene, see also supra Such promoter may be regulated and thus permit the controlled expression of the TZap protein in certain cells In a further aspect the present invention relatεs to a method for identifying a binding partner to a TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 polypeptide comprising (a) contacting a TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 polypeptidε of the invention with a compound to be screened, and (b) determining whether the compound affects an activity of the polypeptide TZap7/A, TZap7/B and TZap7 polypeptides may be used to screen for molecules that bind to TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 or for molecules to which TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 binds The binding of TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 and the molecule may activatε (agonist), increase, inhibit (antagonist), or decrease activity of the TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 or the molecule bound. Examples of such molecules include antibodies, oligonucleotides, proteins (e.g., recεptors), or small molecules. Preferably, the moleculε is ciosεly related to the natural ligand of TZap, e.g., a fragment of the ligand, or a natural substrate, a ligand. a structural or functional mimetic; see, e.g., Coligaπ, Current Protocols in Immunology 1 (2) (1991 ); Chapter 5. Similarly, the molecule can be closely relatεd to thε natural receptor to which TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 binds, or at least, a fragment of thε rεcεptor capable of being bound by TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 (e.g., active site). In either case, the molecule can be rationally designed using known techniques; seε also infra. Preferably, the screening for these molecules involves producing appropriate cells which express TZap, either as a secrεtεd protein or on the cell membranε. Preferred cells include cells from mammals, yeast, Drosophila, or E. coli. Cells expressing TZap (or cell membrane containing the expressed polypeptide) are then preferably contacted with a test compound potentially containing the moleculε to observe binding, stimulation, or inhibition of activity of either TZap or the molecule. The assay may simply test binding of a candidate compound to TZap, wherein binding is detεctεd by a label, or in an assay involving competition with a labeled competitor. Further, the assay may test whether the candidate compound results in a signal generated by binding to TZap. Alternativεly, the assay can be carriεd out using cell-free preparations, polypeptide/molecule affixed to a solid support, chemical libraries, or natural product mixtures. The assay may also simply comprise the steps of mixing a candidate compound with a solution containing TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7, measuring TZap/molecule activity or binding, and comparing the TZap/molecule activity or binding to a standard. 2614 2S Preferably, an ELISA assay can measure TZap level or activity in a sample {e.g., biological sample) using a monoclonal or polyclonal antibody. The antibody can measure TZap level or activity by eithkr binding, directly or indirectly, to TZap or by competing with TZap for a substrate. All of these above assays can be used as diagnostic or prognostic markers. The molecules discovered using these assays can be used to treat disease or to bring about a particular result in a patient {e.g., increase of immune response) by activating or inhibiting the TZap/molecule. Moreover, the assays can discover agents which may inhibit or enhance [the production of TZap from suitably manipulated cells or tissues. Therefore, the invention includes a method of identifying compounds which bind to TZap7/A, TZap7/8 and/or TZaρ7 comprising the steps of; (a) incubating a candidate binding compound with TZap; and (b) determining if binding has occurred. Moreover, the invention includes a methdd of identifying modulators of immune responses comprising the steps of; (a) incubating a candidate compound with TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7; (b) assaying a biological activity as described above, and (c) determining if a biological activity of TZap has been altered. As mentioned hereinbefore, the polynucleotides and polypeptides of the present invention provide a basis for the development of mimetic compounds that may be modulators of TZap or their encoding genes. It will be appreciated that the present invention also provides cell based screening methods that allow a high- throughput-screeniπg (HTS) of compounds that may be candidates for such modulators. Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for identifying leukocyte activating or co-stimulating compounds or for identifying inhibitors of leukocyte activation and 01/32614 29 stimulation comprising (a) cultunng T cells in the presence of the TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 protein, (poly)peptιde, antibody, or cell described above and, optionally, in the presence of a component capable of providing a detectable signal in response to leukocyte activation, with a compound to be screened under conditions permitting interaction of the compound with the TZap protein, (poly)peptιde, antibody or cell(s), and (b) detecting the presence or absence of a signal generated from the interaction of the compound with the cells The term "compound" in the method of the invεntion iπcludεs a single substance or a plurality of substances which may or may not bε identical Said compouπd(s) may be comprised in, for example, samples, e g , cell extracts from, e.g , plants, animals or microorganisms Furthermore, said compounds may be known in the art but hitherto not known to be capable of inhibiting proliferation of leukocytes or not known to be useful as an immune response costimulatory or modulating factor, respectively The plurality of compounds may be, e g , added to a simple in vitro, to the culture medium or injected into the cell If a sample containing (a) compouπd(s) is identified in the method of the invention, then it is either possible to isolate the compound from the original sample identified as containing the compound in question, or one can further subdivide the original sample, for example, if it consists of a plurality of different compounds, so as to reduce the number of different substances per sample and repeat the method with the subdivisions of the original sample It can then be determined whether said sample or compound displays the desired properties by methods known in the art such as described herein and in the appended examples Depending on the complexity of the samples, the steps described above can be performed several times, preferably until the sample identified according to the method of the invention only comprises a limited number of or only one substance(s) Preferably said sample comprises substances of similar chemical and/or physical properties, and most preferably said substances are 30 identical The methods of the present invention can be easily performed and designed by the person skilled in the art, for example in accordance with other cell based assays described in the prior art (see, e g , EP-A-0 403 506) or by using and modifying the methods as described in the appendεd examples Furthermore, the person skilled in the art will readily recognizε which further compounds and/or cells may be used in order to perform the methods of the invention, for example, B cells, mterleukiπs, or enzymes if necessary, that, e g , convert a certain compound into the precursor which in turn stimulates or suppresses lymphocyte or moπocyte activation or that provide for (co)stιmulatory signals Such adaptation of the method of the invention is well within the skill of the person skilled in the art and can be perfσrmεd without unduε experimentation Compounds which can be used in accordance with the method of the present invention include peptides, proteins, nucleic acids including cDNA expression libraries, antibodies, small organic compounds, ligands, peptidomimetics, PNAs and the like Said compounds can also be functional derivatives or analogues of known B or T cell activators or inhibitors Methods for the preparation of chemical derivatives and analogues are well known to those skilled in the art and are described in, for examplε, Bεilstεiπ, Handbook of Organic Chemistry, Springer edition New York Inc , 75 Fifth Avenue, New York, N Y 10010 U S A and Organic Synthesis, Wiley, New York, USA Furthermore said derivatives and analogues can be tested for their effects according to methods known in the art or as described, for examplε in the appended examples Furthermore, peptidomimetics and/or computer aided design of appropriate activators or inhibitors of T cell activation can be used, for example, according to the methods described below Appropriate computer programs can be used for the identification of interactive sites of a putative inhibitor and the TZap protein by computer assistant searches for complementary structural motifs (Fassma, Immunomethods 5 (1994), 114-120) Furthεr appropriate computer 614 systems for the computer aided design of protein and peptides are described in the prior art, for example, in Berry, Biochem Soc Trans 22 (1994), 1033-1036, Wodak, Ann N Y Acad Sci 501 (1987), 1-13, Pabo, Biochemistry 25 (1986), 5987-5991 The results obtained from the above-described computer analysis can be used in combination with the method of the invention for, e g , optimizing known lεukσcytε activators or inhibitors Appropriate peptidomimetics can also be identified by the synthesis of peptidomimetic combinatorial libraries through successive chemical modification and testing the resulting compounds, e g , according to the methods described herein and in the appended examples Methods for the generation and use of peptidomimεtic combinatorial libraries are described in the prior art, for example in Ostresh, Methods in Enzymology 267 (1996), 220-234 and Dorner, Bioorg Med Chem 4 (1996), 709-715 Furthermore, the three-dimensional and/or crystallographic structure of inhibitors or activators of leukocyte stimulation can be used for the design of peptidomimetic inhibitors or activators of leukocyte activation to be tested in the method of the invention (Rose, Biochemistry 35 (1996), 12933-12944, Ruteπber, Bioorg Med Chem 4 (1996), 1545-1558) Furthermore, ligaπds of Notch proteins described in Example 1 can be used as the starting material for any one of the above described methods In summary, the present invention provides methods for identifying compounds which are capable of modulating immune responses Accordingly compounds identified in accordance with the method of the present invention to be inhibitors and activators, respεctivεly, of immune response are also within the scope of the present invention Compounds found to eπhancε leukocyte proliferation may be used in the treatment of cancer or infections and related diseases In addition, it may also be possible to specifically inhibit viral diseases, thereby preventing viral infection or viral spread Compounds identified as suppressors of leukocyte proliferation can be used, e g , for treating skin conditions (see, e g , WO93/06866) or in allogeπic or xeπogεnic cell or organ transplantation in order to avoid graft rejection, see also supra The compounds identified or obtained according to thε mεthod of thε present invention are thus expected to be very useful in diagnostic and in particular for therapeutic applications Heπcε, in a furthεr embodiment the invention relates to a method for the production of a pharmaceutical composition comprising formulating and optionally synthesizing the compound identified in step (b) or (c) of the above described methods of the invention in a pharmaceutically acceptable form Hence, the present invention generally relates to a method of making a therapeutic agent comprising synthesizing the proteins, (poly)peptιdes, polynucleotides, vectors, antibodies or compounds according to the invention in an amount sufficient to provide said agent in a therapeutically effective amount to the patient Methods for synthesizing thesε agents are well known in the art and are described, e g above The therapeutically useful compounds identified according to the method of the invention may be administered to a patient by any appropriate method for the particular compound, e g , orally, intravenously, pareπterally, traπsdεrmally, transmucosally, or by surgery or implantation (e g , with thε compound being in the form of a solid or semi-solid biologically compatible and resorbable matrix) at or near the site where the effect of the compound is desired Therapeutic doses are determined to be appropriate by one skilled in the art, see also supra Such useful compounds can be, for example, transacting factors which bind to the TZap protein of the invention Identification of transacting factors can be carried out using standard methods in the art (see, e g , Sambrook, supra, and Ausubel, supra) To determine whether a protein binds to the TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 protein of the invention, standard native gel-shift analyses can be carried out In order to identify a transacting factor which binds to the TZap7/A TZap7/B and/or TZap7 of the invention, the polypeptides and peptidεs of the invention can be used as an affinity reagent in standard protein purification methods, or as a probe for screening an expression library Once the transacting factor is identified, modulation of its binding to the TZap protein of the mvεntion can bε pursuεd, beginning with for examplε, screening for inhibitors against the binding of the transacting factor to the TZap protein of the present invention Activation or repression of TZap specific genes could then be achievεd in subjεcts by applying the transacting factor (or its inhibitor) or the gene encoding it, e g , in a vector described in the embodiments hereinbefore In addition, if the active form of the transacting factor is a dimer, dominant-nεgativε mutants of thε transacting factor could be made in orderto inhibit its activity Furthεrmorε, upon identification of the transacting factor, further components in the pathway leading to activation (e g signal transduction) or repression of a gene encoding the TZap protein of the present invention can then be identified Modulation of the activities of these components can then be pursued, in order to develop additional drugs and methods for modulating the expression or activity of the TZap protein of the present invention Besidε the above described possibilities to use thε polynucleotides according to the invention for genε therapy and their use to identify homologous molecules, the descπbed polynucleotidεs may also be used for several other applications for example, for the identification of nucleic acid molecules which eπcodε protεiπs which interact with the TZap7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7 protein described above This can be achieved by assays well known in the art, for example, as described in Scofield (Science 274 (1996), 2063-2065) by use of the so^alled yeast "two-hybrid system" In this system the (poly)peptιdε encoded by the polynucleotides according to the invention or a smaller part thereof is linked to the DNA-biπdiπg domain of the GAL4 transcription factor A yeast strain expressing this fusion protein and comprising a lacZ reporter gene driven by an appropriate promoter which is recognized by the GAL4 transcription factor, is transformed with a library of cDNAs which will express animal preferably mammal proteins or peptides thereof fused to an activation domain Thus, if a peptide encoded by one of the cDNAs is able to 34 interact with the fusion protein comoπsiπg a (poly)peptιde of the invention the complex is able to direct expression of the reporter gene In this way the polynucleotide according to the invention and the encoded peptide can be used to identify peptides and proteins interacting with TZap proteins Other methods for identifying compounds which interact with the TZap protein according to the invention or nucleic acid molecules encoding such molecules are for εxample, the in vitro screening with the phage display system as well as filter binding assays or "real time" measuring of interaction using, for examplε, the BIAcore apparatus (Pharmacia), see references cited supra Furthermore, the present invention relates to the use of the polynucleotide, the nucleic acid molecule, the vectors, peptides, polypeptides, antibodies and cells of the invention as well as compounds identified in accordance with a method of the invention described heremabove for the preparation of a composition for diagnosing and/or the treatment of diseases involving T cell activation and associated with Th1 and Th2 immune respoπsε, for the treatment of acute and chronic rejection of allo-aπd xeno organ transplants and bone marrow transplantation, for the treatmεnt of rhεumatoid arthritis, lupus erythramatodes, multiple sclerosis, encephalitis, vasculitis, diabetεs mellitus, pancreatitis, gastritis, thyroiditis, for the treatment of maligπe disorders of T, B or NK cells, for the treatment of asthma, lepramatosis, Helicobacter pylori associated gastritis or for the treatment of skin tumors, adrenal tumors or lung tumors, wound healing, growth disorders, inflammatory and/or infectious diseases The polynucleotides, vectors cells proteins, (poly)peptιdes, antibodies, inhibitors, activators, pharmaceutical and diagnostic compositions, uses and methods of the invention can be used for the treatment of all kinds of diseases hitherto unknown as being related to or depeπdεnt on thε modulation of TZap Thε pharmacεutical compositions, mεthods and uses of the present invention may be desirably employed in humans, although animal treatment is also encompassed by the methods and uses described herein Further methods and uses that can be employed in accordance with the presεnt invention are descπbed in W099/11782 the disclosure of which is hereby specifically incorporated Thesε and othεr εmbodimeπts are disclosed and encompassed by the description and EExamples of the presεnt invention Further literature concerning any one of the antibodies, methods, uses and compounds to be employed in accordance with the present invention may be retrieved from public libraries and databasεs, using for example electronic devices For example the public database "Mediiπe" may be utilized which is available on the Internet, for example under http //www ncbi nlm πih gov/PubMed/med πe html Further databases and addresses, such as http //www ncbi nlm nih gov/, http //www iπfobiogen fr/, http //www fmi ch/bιology/rεsεarch_tools html, http //www tigr org/, are known to the person skilled in the art and can also be obtained using, e g , http //www lycos com An overview of patent information in biotechnology and a survey of relevant sources of patent information useful for retrospective searching and for current awarenεss is givεπ in Bεrks, TIBTECH 12 (1994), 352-364 Throughout this spε ficatioπ and claims, the word "comprise," or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising," will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or group of integers but not the exclusion of any other integεr or group of integers A better understanding of the present invention and of its many advantages will be had from the following examplεs, givεπ by way of illustration EXAMPLES Isolation of cDNAs from alloactivated human T cell line encoding novel proteins which share homology with Notchless proteins in Drosophila and Xenopus as well as with proteins from the β-traπsducin family in human cells To identify genes induced during the early phase of T cell activation in response to alloantigeπs, differential display analysis of mRNA expression was performed using an allostimulated human T cell line. Activation of human T cells was performed as follows. In accordance with the ethical standards as formulated in the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 peripheral blood was obtained from healthy volunteers. Lymphocytes (PBL) were isolated using standard Ficoll centrifugation and resuspeπded in RPMI containing 10% fetal calf serum. Responder PBL were stimulated with equal numbers of irradiated (3000 rad, 13 miπ) stimulator lymphocytes. To establish an alloactivated human T cell line, cells were co-cultured for 24 h in tissue flasks at an initial concentration of 10^ cells/ml. Responding human T cells were restimulated three times with the irradiated stimulator lymphocytes from the same volunteer at 10 day intervals. The third restimulation was carriεd out with 5 x 10^ cells/ml irradiated stimulator cells, and total RNA was isolated immediatεly and 24 h after co-culturiπg. The RNA expression pattern was analyzed immediately and 24 h after the third allostimulation. Differential display-reversε transcription PCR (DDRT-PCR) analysis was then performεd. Total RNA was isolated from lymphocytes immediately and 24 h after co-culturiπg using RNAzol B (Tel-Test) and differential display was performεd as dεscribεd previously [10]. Briefly, 2 μg of total RNA was used for reverse transcription with an oligo d(T) primer (25 nM) and 200 U MMLV revεrse transcriptase (Gibco BRL). 50 πg of the resulting cDNA was used for subsequent PCR with primers 5'-GATGCCACCATGG-3' (SEQ ID NO: 7) and 5'-TGCGTCTGGTTCT-3' (SEQ ID NO: 8) artificial DNA. PCR was performed in a 20 μl reaction containing 1.25 mM MgCI2, 50 mM KCI, 10 mM Tris HCI, pH 8.3, 20 nM dNTP, 2.5 nM of each primer, 5 μCi 35S[dATP], and 0 3 U Taq polymerase (Promega) PCR products were separated by electrophoresis in a 6% polyacrylamid-urea gεl (Sequagel National Diagnostics) and subjected to autoradiography Using the primer pair given above, differential display RT-PCR revealed a single 230 bp cDNA fragment, which was significantly mcreasεd 24 h after stimulation To obtain a full length cDNA, this fragment was used to screen a human leukocyte cDNA in λTπpl Ex The differentially expressed cDNA fragment was excised from the filter, eluted in 0 5 M ammonium acetate/1 mM EDTA, pH 8 3, and ethanol prεcipitatεd Thε cDNA product was rεamplified electrophorεsed in a 2% agarose gεl and purified using Geπε Clεaπ kit (Quiagεπ) The recovered cDNA product was biuπt-eπdεd with Kleπow enzyme (Gibco BRL) following standard protocols [11] and ligated into pBluescπpt SK + vεctor Aftεr labeling with 32 P[dCTP] (800 mCi/mmol, Amersham Iπc ) using the random priming method [12], the cDNA fragment isolated from DDRT-PCR was used as a probe to screen a human leukocytε cDNA in λTπpl Ex Hybridization was carπεd out for 24 h at 42 C in 40% formamidε 10% Dεxtran sulfate, 4 x SSC (1 x SSC consists of 150 mM NaCi, 15 mM sodium citrate, pH 7 0), 0 8 x Denhardt's solution (1 x Deπhardt's solution contains 0 02% polyv ylpyrrolidone, 0 02% Ficoll, 0 02% bovmε sεrum albumin), 0 5% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and 20 μg/ml salmon sperm DNA The filters were washed twice for 20 mm with 2 x SSC/10% SDS at room temperature, and for 30 mm with 0.2 x SSC/10% SDS at 65 C followed by autoradiography From 2 x 10^ recombiπaπts, two positive clones were plaque purified, subcloned into pBluescπpt SK + vector Completε cDNA inserts were sequεncεd according to thε method of Saπger [13], using a pπmεr walking stratεgy starting from pπmεrs flanking the multiple cloning site of the piasmid Sequence analysis was performεd using Gεnεworks software systεm For homology sεarches NCBI BLASTx and BLASTn software were usεd Thrεε clonεs TZaD7/A, TZap7/B and TZap7 wεre isolated and sequeπced Sequence analysis of TZap7/B revεalεd a 1928 bp cDNA (SEQ ID NO 1 ) with an opεπ reading framε of 1455 Nt, predicting a protein lenσt of 485 ammo acids (SEQ ID NO 2) The putative translation product of TZap7/B shows extεπsivε homology to Notchless proteins of Drosophila and Xenopus Homologies are as high as 83% ammo acids being identical between TZap and Xenopus Nle and 55% between TZap and Drosophila Nle Sequεncmg of the second clone dεsignatεd TZap7/A, revealed a cDNA of 1170 bp (SEQ ID NO 3) with an open reading frame of 786 Nt, predicting a protεin lεngth of 262 ammo acids (SEQ ID NO 4) Thε putativε translation product of this clonε also shows significant homologiεs to thε Notchlεss proteins of Drosophila and Xenopus Sequence identities ranging from 31 % between Drosophila and TZap7/A and 45% betwεεn Xenopus and thε human Nle Furthermore, a third cDNA clone was obtained designated TZap7 with cDNA of 1 ,859 base pairs in length (SEQ ID NO 5) encoding a protein of 458 ammo acids in length (SEQ ID NO 6) The ammo acid sequeπcε of TZap7 shows homology with notchless proteins similar to TZap7/B, see Figure 4 The relationship of the novel TZap proteins and Notch, Notchless and traπsduciπ proteins will be discussed below Notch-signalling in differentiation During development, a cell ' s fate is determined by a type of signaling known as lateral inhibition or lateral specification (Artavaπis-Tsakoπas, S , Matsuno, K and Fortmi, M E (1995) Notch Signalling Science 268, 225-232) Such signals are transmitted between cells in direct contact with each other and direct the differentiation of distinct cell types emεrgmg from a group of calls that havε otherwise equivalent potential This evolutionary conserved pathway is mediated by the transmembraπe receptor protein encoded by the Notch gene of Drosophila and its vertebratε homologuεs, as well as by relatεd protεiπs that arε εncodεd by the lιn-12 and glp-1 genes of C elegans (Artavaπis-Tsakoπas, S , Matsuno, K and Fortmi, M E (1995) Notch Signalling Science, 268 225-232) One of the best understood examples of Notch participation in local intercellular communication is the decision between so-called AC and VU cell fates in the nematode C elegans (Greεπwald I and Rubin, G M (1992) Making a differencε- thε rolε of cell-cell interactions in establishing separate identities for equivalent cells Cell, 68, 271-281 ) Each of two cells that are in direct contact with each other has the capacity to become an anchor cell (AC), but stochastically only one adopts the AC fate while the other adopts the ventral uterine precursor (VU) fate It is thought that when one cell chooses its fate, it sends a signal to its neighbor, inhibiting the neighbor from choosing the same fate and directing it to assumε an altεrπative fate Lateral signaling or notch signaling appears to guide the development of numerous structures in mvertεbrates such as the proper formation of the nervous system, the mesoderm and the germ line in embryonic Drosophila as well as the larval Malpighian tubules, adult sensory bristles and eye structures of the fly (reviewed in Artavanis-Tsakoπas et al , 1995) The role of lateral inhibition is best studied in vertebratεs but recent studies indicate an important role of notch signaling in numerous cell fate decisions in mammals Role of Notch family members in mammalian cell fate specification The role of Notch family mεmbers in mammals was explored both through gene overexpression and gene mactivation In mice and man, each of which possess at least four different Notch proteins, chromosomal rearraπgmeπts that affect Notch genεs are associatεd with cεrtain nεopiasias (Elliseπ, L W , Bird J , West, D C , Soreng, A L , Reynolds, T C , Smith, S D and Sklar, J (1991 ) Taπ- 1 , the human homolog of the Drosophila notch gene, is broken by chromosomal translocations in T lymphoblastic neoplasms Cell, 66, 649-661 ) The vertebratε Notch genes are εxprεssεd throughout dεvεlopmg tissuεs at εmbryoπic stagεs and in prolifεrativε cell layers of mature tissues Mice defective for one of tneir Notch genes die bεforε 11 5 days of gestation with extensivε regions of cell death (Swiatek, P J , Lmdsell, C E , del Amo, F F , Weiπmastεr, G and Gndlεy, 01/32614 40 T. (1994): Notchl is essential for postimplantation devεlopment in mice. Genes & Development, 6, 707-719). These findings imply an essential function of Notch for the development in mammals. That Notch is involved in mammalian cell fate determination was suggestεd by constitutive activation of Notchl in immature thymocytes that resultεd in a biased CD4 versus CD8 lineage decision in favor of CD8 T cells as well as in T cell receptor expression that was skewed toward α/β TCRs (Robey, E., Chang, D., Itano, A., Cado, D., Aiεxander, H., Laπs, D., Weinmaster, G. and Salmon, P. (1996): An activated form of notch influences the choice betweεπ CD4 aπd CD8 T cell lineage. Cell, 87, 483-492). And even earliεr in T cεll liπεagε, it was shown that constitutive expression of Notchl results in a emergence of a population of thymic-iπdependeπt T cells in the bone marrow, concurrent with an early and persistent block in B cell maturation (Pui JC, Allman D, Xu L, DeRocco S, Karnell FG, Bakkour S, Lee JY, Kadesch T, Hardy RR, Aster JC, Pear WS (1999): Notchl expression in early lymphopoiesis influences B versus T lineage determination. Immunity, 11 , 299-308). Thesε findings suggεst that Notchl piays an obligatory and selectivε rolε not only in T cell iineagε induction but also in sεvεral cell fate decisions in T cell maturation. Molecular structure of notch protein family members Notch proteins are 300 kD single-pass transmembraπe receptors. The large extracellular domain contains 34-36 tandem EGF-like rεpεats and three cystein- rich Notch/Liπ-12 (NL) repeats. Six tandem ankyriπ or CddO repeats, a glutamin-rich domain (opa), and a PEST sequεncε are found within the intracellular domain (Wharton KA, Johansen KM, Xu T, Artavanis-Tsakonas S (1985): Nucleotide sequence from the πeurogeπic locus notch implies a gene product that shares homology with proteins containing EGF-like repeats. Cell, 43, 567581 ). The intracellular domain is divided in the subdomains ICN1 and ICN2 with ICN1 containing the CddO repeats (Pear, W.S., Aster, J.C., Hasserjian, R.B., Soffer, B., Skiar and Baltimore, D. (1996): Exclusive development of T cell neoplasms in mice transplanted with bone marrow expressing activated Notch alleles Journal of ' Experimental Medicine, 183, 2283- 2291 ) Notch liqands and signaling pathways Genetic and molecular interaction studies resultεd in the identification of a number of proteins that participate in transmitting and regulating Notch signal In Drosophila, the two single -pass traπsmembranε proteins, Delta and Serrate (Delta and Jagged in vertεbrates), have been identifiεd as partially redundant εxtracellular Notch ligaπds (Artavanis-Tsakonas, S Rand, M D and Lake, R J (1999) Notch signaling cell fate control and signal integration in development Science, 284, 770-776). The extracellular domain of thesε ligaπds, expressed on the surface of one cell, are thought to interact with the extracεllular domain of the Notch protein expressed on a adjacent cell, resulting in the activation of the iπtra cellular notch domain As a result of activation the intracellular domain is cleaved by Preseπiiin, a multiple transmembraπe protein, (Struhl and Greeπwald, 1999) and bind to different transcription factors such as Suppressor of Hairless ( Su(H)) in Drosophila (CBF1/RJBκ in mammals) Upon binding the Notch/Su(H) complex is translocated to the nucleus and upregulate the expression of the genes of the Enhancer of split Locus, which encode nuclear basic helιx-loop-helιx (bHLH) proteins (Bailey, A M and Posakoπy, J W (1995) Suppressor of hairless directly activates transcription of Enhancer of split complex genes in response to notch receptor activity Genes <__ Development, 9, 2609-2622). The bHLH proteins, in turn, affect the regulation of downstream target genes, for instance, the genes of the Achaetε-Scute complex in Drosophila, which contains proneuroπal gεπεs that εncodε protε s iπvolvεd in thε segregation of neuronal and epidermal lineages Besidε of CBF1 and RJBK sεveral other proteins reportεd to intεract with thε intracellular notch domain are e g Bcl3, a member of the lκB family (Jehπ BM, Biεlkε W, Pear WS, Osborπe BA (1999) Protective effects of notch- 1 on TCR- iπduced apoptosis J Immunol, 162, 635-638), Nur77, a protein involved in lymphoid development, Deltex, a cytopiasmic protεiπ with putative SRC 42 homology binding domains and Notchlεss, a WD 40-rεpeat containing protein (Royet, J , Bouwmeester, T and Cohen, S M (1998) Notchless encodes a novel WD40-repeat-contaιnιng protein that modulates Notch signaling activity The EMBO Journal, 17, 7351-7360) Notchless modulates Notch signaling activity Sevεral protεms have been identified as modifiers of the activity of Notch-family receptors Deltex binds to the CDC10 repεats and positively regulates notch activity (Matsuno K, Eastman D, Mitsiades T, Quiππ AM, Carcaπciu ML, Ordeπtlich P, Kadesch T, Artavaπis-Tsakonas S (1995) Human deltex is a coπservεd regulator of Notch signalling Nature Genetics, 19, 74-78), Numb Disheveled and Sel-10 binding reduce Notch activity A novel protein, which reduces Notch activity by binding the intracellular ICN2 domain, is Notchless a novel WD40 repeat containing protein (Royet, J , Bouwmεester, T and Cohen, S M (1998) Notchless eπcodεs a novel WD40-repeat-contaιπιng protein that modulates Notch signaling activity The EMBO Journal, 17, 7351-7360) Notchless (Nle) was first identified in a genetic screen for modifiers oi Drosophila notch activity Removing one copy of Notchless in Deltεx mutant flies restores the deltex mutant wing to normal This result suggests that Deltεx and Notchless act in opposite directions as modifiers of notch activity in Drosophila wing devεlopmεnt Binding of Nle to the cytoplasmatic domain of Notch was confirmed by GST pull-down and immuπoprecipitation assays Experiments using the yeast two-hybrid system that Nle binds to the ICN2 domain of notch, but not to ICN1 This suggests that Nle is likely to oppose Deltεx function indirectly through an opposing activity on Notch, and not by direct competition for binding The function of Notchless appears to be to reduce Notch activity Reduction or removal of Nle expression mcreasε Notch activity, but ovεrexpressioπ of Nle also leads to increased Notch activity in Drosophila and Xenopus It is thought that Nle functions as a modulator to keep Notch activity levels in balance Nle mutants show increases Notch activity but are viable even as homozygotes, 43 indicating that the level of overactivatioπ is not so severe as to be lethal In this regard Nle functions like Deltex which modulates the iεvεi of Notch activity but which is not absolutely required for Notch to function Using dεgenerated PCR Primer directed against the N-terminal domain of mousε and human ESTs a Xenopus cDNA was isolated Both predictεd Notchless proteins has novel highly conservεd N-terminal domains followed by nine WD40 repeats The WD40 repeat is found in a wide variety of proteins of diverse function and is thought to be a protein interaction domain (Neer EJ, Schmidt CJ, Nambudπpad R, Smith TF (1994) The ancient regulatory-protein family of WD-repeat proteins Nature, 371 , 297-300) Typically WD40 proteins contain seven repeats Structure analysis of β-Transducm suggests that these form a propeller-like structure and that sevεn rεpεats can pack to make a flat cylinder (Neer EJ and Smith TF (1996) G protein heterodimers new structures propel new questions Cell, 84, 175-178) Notchless is unusual in that it appears to contain nine WD40 repeats References [1 ] G.R. Crabtree, Contingent genetic regulatory evεπts in T lymphocyte activation, Science 243 (1989) 355-361. [2] CH. June, Signal transduction in T cells, Curr. Opin. Immunol. 3 (1991 ) 287-293. [3] R. H. Schwartz, Costimulation of T lymphocytes: the role of CD28, CTLA- 4, and B7/BB1 in lπterleukiπ-2 production and immunotherapy, Call 71 (1992) 1065-1068. [4] J. Baπchεreau, F. Bazaπ, D. Bianchard, F. Brierε, J. Galizzi, C. van Kooten, Y. Liu, F. Roussεt, S. Seeland, Thε CD40 antigεn and its ligand, Annu. Rev. Immunol. 12 (1994) 881-922. [5] D.J. Lenschow, T. Walunas, J. Bluestone, CD28/B7 system of T cell costimulation, Annu. Rev. Immunol. 14 (1996) 233-258. [6] P. Liπsley, J. Ledbεtter, The role of the CD28 receptor during T cell responses to antigen, Annu. Rev. Immunol. 11 (1993) 191-212. [7] A. Kupfer, S.L. Swain, S.J. Singer, Thε spεcific direct interaction of helper T cells and antigen-presenting B cells. II. Reoriεπtation of the microtubule organizing center and reorganization of the membrane- associated cytoskeleton inside the bound helperT cells, J. Exp. Med. 165 (1987) 1565-1580. [8] .V. Parsey, G.K. Lewis, Actin polymerization and pseudopod reorganization accompany anti-CD3-iπduced growth arrest in Jurkat T cells, J. Immunol. 151 (1993) 1881-1893. 45 [9] N. Selliah, W.H. Brooks, T.L. Roszman, Proteolytic cleavagε of -actinin by calpain in T cells stimulated with aπti-CD3 monoclonal antibody, J. Immunol. 156 (1996) 3215-3221. [10] R. Kojima, J. Randall, B.M. Brenner, S.R. Gullans, Osmotic stress protein 94 (Osp94): A new membεr of the Hsp1 10/SSE gene subfamily, J. Biol. Chem. 271 (1996) 12327-12332. [11] J. Sambrook, E.F. Fritsch, T. Maniatis, Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbour, New York, 1989. [12] A.P. Feinberg, B. Vogelstein, A technique for radiolabeling DNA restriction eπdoπuclease fragments to high specific activity, Anal. Biochem. 132 (1983) 6-13. [13] F. Sanger, S. Nicklen, A.R. Coulsoπ, DNA sequencing with chain- terminating inhibitors, Prσc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 74 (1977) 5463-5467. [14] M. Ashburπer, P. Thompson, J. Roote, P.F. Lasko, Y. Grau, M. El Mεssal, S. Roth, P. Simpson, Thε gεnεtics of a small autosomal region of Drosophila melanogaster containing the structural gene for alcohol dehydrogenase. Characterization of the region around the snail and cactus loci, Genetics 126 (1990) 679-694. [15] S. Roth, F.S. Neumaπ-Silberberg, G. Barcelo, T. Schϋpbach, Cornichon and the EGF receptor signaling process are necessary for both anterior- posterior and dorsal-ventral pattern formation in Drosophila, Cell 81 (1995) 967-978. [16] R. Lehmann, Establishment of embryonic Drosophila oogenεsis, Dεv. Biol. 6 (1995) 25-38. [17] F.S. Neumaπ-Silberberg, T. Schϋpbach, The Drosophila dorsoventrai pattεrπing gene gurkeπ produces a dorsally localized RNA and encodes a TGF-like protein, Cell 75 (1993) 165-174. [18] J.V. Price, R.J. Clifford, T. Schϋpbach, The maternal ventralizing locus torpedo is allelic to faint little ball, an embryogεnic lethal, and encodes the Drosophila EGF receptor homolog, Cell 56 (1998) 1085-1092. [19] J. Schlessinger, B. Geiger, Epidermal growth factor induces redistribution of actiπ and alpha-actinin in human epidεrmal carcinoma cells, Exp. Cell. Res. 134 (1981 ) 273-279. [20] J. Singer, Intercellular communication and cell-cell adhesion, Science 255 (1992) 1671-1677. [21] R. Pardi, L. Inverardi, C. Rugarli, J.R. Bender, Antigen-receptor complex stimulation triggers protein kinase C-dependeπt CD11a/CD18- cytoskeleton association in T lymphocytes, J. Cell. Biol. 1 16 (1992) 1211- 1220. [22] Pearson (1990). Methods in Eπzymology, 183, pp. 63-98. SΞ; 'Ξ CΞ LISTING <110> Utku, Nalan <12C> Novel genes TZap7/A, TZap7/3 and TZap7 involved _.n T cell activation and uses thereof <130> E 2397 US <140> <141> <160> 6 <170> Fatentln Ver. 2.1 <2I0> 1 <211> 1928 <212> DNA <213> Homo sapiens <220> <221> C S <222> (92) .. (1543) <400> 1 ggcacgagct cttccgcaca tgtgtctgct gtaaacacat gtctgtagtt ttttaagctc 60 ctgtctgaag taaggcgacc cttctgaata a atg gtg tgg ate gcg gac gag 112 Met Val Trp lie .Ala Asp Glu 1 5 gcg gtg gcg cgc gat gtg cag egg ttg eta gtg cag ttc cag gat gag 160 Ala Val Ala Arg Asp Val Gin Arc Leu Leu Val Gin Phe Gin Asp Glu 10 15 20 ggc ggg cag ctg ctg ggt tec ccg ttc gac gtg ccc gtg gac ate ace 208 Gly Gly Gin Leu Leu Gly Ser Pro Phe Asp Val Pro Val A.sτ_ lie Thr 25 30 35 ccrg gac agg ctg cag etc gtt tgc aac gcg eta ctg gee cag gag gat 256 Pro Asp Arg Leu Gin Leu Val Cys Asn Ala Leu Leu Ala Gin Glu Asp 40 45 50 55 ccc ctg tea ctg get ttc ttt gtc cac gat get gag ate gtt tee tea 304 Pro Leu Ser Leu Ala Phe Phe Val His Asp Ala Glu Tie Val Ser Ser 60 65 70 etc ggg aag acg ttg gag tec cag gca gtg gag aca gag aag gtc eta 352 Leu Gly Lys Thr Leu Glu Ser Gin Ala Val Glu Thr Glu Lys Val Leu 75 80 85 gac ate att tta ccc aca caa get gtg ttc aaa gtt cgt get gta aca 400 Asp He He Leu Pro Thr Gin Ala Val Phe Lys Val Arg Ala Val Thr 90 95 100 cga tgt ace age tea ttg gag gga cac ace gag get gtt att tea gta 448 Arg Cys Thr Ser Ser Leu Glu Gly His Thr Glu Ala Val He Ser Val 105 110 115 gcc ttc age cca act gga aag tat ttg gca agt ggt tct ggg gac act 496 Ala Phe Ser Pro Thr Gly Lys Tyr Leu Ala Ser Gly Ser Gly Asp Thr 120 125 130 135 EI187 45564US aca gtc cgc ttt tgg gat etc age aca aa act cca cat ttt aca tct 544 Thr Val Arg Phe Trp Asp Leu Ser Thr Glu Tnr Pro His Pr.e Thr Ser 140 145 150 aaa ggg cat aca cac tgg gtt etc agt att get tgg tet cea gat ggc 5S2 Lys Gly H s Thr His Trp Val Leu Ser lie Ala Trp Ser Fro Asp Gly 155 160 165 aaa aaa ctt gee tea gga tgt aaa aat agt cag ate ttc att tgg gac 640 Lys Lys Leu Ala Ser Gly Cys Lys A≤n Ser Gin He Phe lie Trp Asp 170 175 180 cca age aca ggg aag cag att ggc aaa cca tta aca ggg cac tea aag 638 Pro Ser Thr Gly Lys Gin He Gly Lys Pre Leu Thr Gly His Ser Lys 185 190 195 tgg att aca tgg ctg tgt tgg gaa cet etc cac ctg aac cca gag age 736 Trp He Thr Trp Leu Cys Trp Glu Pro Leu His Leu Asn Pre Glu Ser 200 205 210 215 cga tae eta gee agt gee tec age ggc cgc gtc gac egg ate tgg gac 784 Arg Tyr Leu Ala Ser Ala Ser Ser Gly Arg Val Asp Arg He Trp Asp 220 225 230 aca act gea ggc cgc tgt gag cgc ate etc ace ggg cac ace cag teg 832 T r Thr Ala Gly Arg Cys Glu Arg He Leu Tnr Gly His Thr Gin Ser 235 240 245 gtc ace tgt etc egg tgg gga ggg gac ggg ctt etc tae tet gee tec 880 Val Thr Cys Leu Arg Trp Gly Gly Asp Gly Leu Leu Tyr Ser Ala Ser 250 255 260 cag gac cgc ace ate aaa gtc tgg aga get eat gac ggt gtg ctg tgc 928 Gin Asp Arg Thr He Lys Val Trp Arg Ala H s Asp Gly Val Leu Cys 255 270 275 egg act ctg eaa ggc cac ggc cac tgg gtg aac ace atg gcc etc age 976 Arg Tnr Leu Gin Gly H s Gly H s Trp Val Asn Thr Met Ala Leu Ser 280 285 290 295 act gac tat gcc ctg cgc act ggg gcc ttt gaa cet get gag gcc tea 1024 Tnr Asp Tyr Ala Leu Arg Thr Gly Ala Phe Glu Pro Ala Glu Ala Ser 300 305 310 gtt eat ccc eaa gac etc eaa gga tec ttg cag gag ttg aag gag agg 1072 Val Asn Pro Gin Asp Leu Gin Gly Ser Leu Gin Glu Leu Lys Glu Arg 315 320 325 get ctg age cga tae aac etc gtg egg ggc cag ggt cca gag agg ctg 1120 Ala Leu Ser Arg Tyr Asn Leu Val Arg Gly Gin Gly Pro Glu Arg Leu 330 335 340 gtg tct ggc tee gac gac ttc ace tta ttc ctg tgg tec cca gca gag 1168 Val Ser Gly Ser Asp Asp Phe Thr Leu Pr.e Leu Trp Ser Pro Ala Glu 345 " 350 355 gac aaa aag cot etc act egg atg aca gga cac eaa get etc ate aac 1216 Asp Lys Lys Pro Leu Thr Arg Met Thr Gly His Gin Ala Leu He Asn 350 365 370 375 cag gtg etc ttc tct cet gac tec cgc ate gtg get agt gee tec ttt 1264 Gin Val Leu Phe Ser Pro Asp Ser A_rg He Val Ala Ser Ala Ser Phe 380 385 390 gac aag tec ate aag ctg tgg gat ggc agg acg ggc aag tae ctg get 1312 Asp Lys Ser He Lys Leu Trp Asp Gly Arg Thr Gly Lys Tyr Leu Ala 395 400 405 tec eta cgc ggc cac gtg get gcc gtg tae cag att gcg tgg tea get 1360 Ser Leu Arg Gly His Val Ala Ala Val Tyr Gin He Ala Trp Ser Ala 410 415 42G gac agt egg etc ctg gtc age ggc age agt gac age aca ctg aag gtg 1408 Asp Ser A.rg Leu Leu Val Ser Gly Ser Ser Asp Ser Thr Leu Lys Val 425 430 435 tgg gat gtg εag gcc cag aag ctg gcc atg gac ctg ccc ggc cac gcg 1456 Trp Asp Val Lys Ala Gin Lys Leu Ala Met A.sp Leu Pro Gly His Ala 440 445 450 455 gat gag gta tat get gtt gac tgg agt cca gat ggc cag aga gtg gca 1504 Asp Glu Val Tyr Ala Val Asp Trp Ser Pro Asp Gly Gin Arg Val Ala 460 465 470 agt ggt ggg aag gac aaa tgc etc egg ate tgg agg aga tgagacggec 1553 Ser Gly Gly Lys Asp Lys Cys Leu Arg He Trp Arg Arg 475 480 cgaagttctc tctgacccec acetegactc ggcctetgce agctgcettc cctgccagag 1613 aacaaaggct gagatggcag tgeaeacacc eteeecacca gtggggacct gagaatgcgt 1673 gtggcctgct gtcctcgata gaccggaatg gggttttccc acagatcccc gcctgtggca 1733 caccceagag ccagaaatcg aaggtcacag gaagttgtca ctgaacttgg cecgtgtctg 1793 ctaetetgta cettgetggt acagacaggg gtggtgggca gccaggctct atgagtgggc 1853 cectagtgte agetctgtac agggteagat cccaggttct atgaccaaat aagtaactta 1913 aaaaaaaaaa aaaaa .928 <210> 2 <211> 484 <212> ?RT <213 > Hcrno sapiens <400> 2 Met Val Trp He Ala Asp Glu Ala Val Ala Arg Asp Val Gin Arg Leu 1 5 10 15 Leu Val Gin Phe Gin Asp Glu Gly Giy Gin Leu Leu Gly Ser Pro Phe 20 25 30 Asp Val Pro Val Asp He Thr Pro Asp Arg Leu Gin Leu Val Cys Asn 35 40 45 Ala Leu Leu Ala Gin Glu Asp Pro Leu Ser Leu Ala P e Phe Val His 50 55 60 Asp Ala Glu He Val Ser Ser Leu Gly Lys Thr Leu Glu Ser Gin Ala 65 "0 75 80 Val Glu Thr Glu Lys Val Leu Asp He He Leu Pro Thr Gin Ala Val 85 90 95 Phe Lys Val Arg Ala Val Thr Arg Cys Thr Ser Ser Leu Glu Gly His 100 105 110 Thr Glu Ala Val He Ser Val Ala Phe Ser Pro Thr Gly Lys Tyr Leu 115 120 125 Ala Ser Gly Ser Gly Asp Thr Thr Vai .Arg Phe Trp Asp Leu Ser Thr 130 135 140 Glu Thr Fro His Phe Thr Ser Lys Gly His Thr His Trp Val Leu Ser 145 150 155 160 He Ala Trp Ser Pro Asp Gly Lys Lys Leu Ala Ser Gly Cys Lys Asn 165 170 " 175 Ser Gin He Phe He Trp Asp Pro Ser Thr Gly Lys Gin He Gly Lys 180 185 190 Pro Leu Thr Gly His Ser Lys Trp He Thr Trp Leu Cys Trp Glu Pro 195 200 205 Leu His Leu Asn Pro Glu Ser Arg Tyr Leu A.ia Ser Ala Ser Ser Gly 210 215 220 Arg Val Asp Arg He Trp Asp Thr Thr Ala Gly Arg Cys Glu Arg He 225 230 235 240 Leu Thr Gly His Thr Gin Ser Val Thr Cys Leu Arg Trp Gly Gly Asp 245 250 255 Gly Leu Leu Tyr Ser Ala Ser Gin Asp Arg Thr He Lys Vai Trp Arg 250 265 270 Ala His Asp Gly Val Leu Cys Arg Thr Leu Gin Gly His Gly H s Trp 275 280 285 Vai Asn Thr Met Ala Leu Ser Thr Asp Tyr Ala Leu Arg Thr Gly Ala 290 295 300 Phe Glu Pro Ala Glu Ala Ser Val Asn Pro Gin Asp Leu Gin Gly Ser 305 310 315 320 Leu Gin Glu Leu Lys Glu Arg Ala Leu Ser Arg Tyr -Asn Leu Val Arg 325 330 325 Gly Gin Gly Pro Glu Arg Leu Val Ser Gly Ser Asp Asp Phe Thr Leu 340 345 350 Phe Leu Trp Ser Pro Ala Glu A.sp Lys Lys Pro Leu Thr Arg Met Thr 355 360 365 Gly His Gin Ala Leu He A.sn Gin Val Leu Phe Ser Pro Asp Ser Arg 370 375 380 He Vai Ala Ser Ala Ser Phe Asp Lys Ser He Lys Leu Trp Asp Giy 385 390 " 395 400 Arg Thr Gly Lys Tyr Leu Ala Ser Leu Arg Giy His Val Ala Ala Val 405 410 415 Tyr Gin He Ala Trp Ser Ala Asp Ser Arg Leu Leu Val Ser Gly Ser 420 425 430 Ser Asp Ser Thr Leu Lys Val Trp Asp Val Lys Ala Gin Lys Leu Ala 435 440 445 Met Asp Leu Pro Gly His Ala Asp Glu Val Tyr Ala Val Asp Trp Ser 450 455 " 460 Pro Asp Gly Gin Arg Val Ala Ser Gly Gly Lys Asp Lys Cys Leu Arg 465 470 475 480 He Trp Arg Arg <210> 3 <211> 1170 <212> DNA <213> Hoπo sapiens <220> <221> CΞΞ <222> (3) .. (785) <400> 3 gc ggc cgc gtc gac egg ate tgg gac aca act gca ggc cgc tgt gag 47 Gly Arg Vai Asp Arg He Trp Asp Thr Thr Ala Gly Arg Cys Glu 1 5 10 15 cgc ate etc ace ggg cac ace cag teg gtc ace tgt etc egg tgg gga 95 Arg He Leu Thr Gly His Thr Gin Ser Val Thr Cys Leu A.rg Trp Gly 20 25 30 ggg gac ggg ctt etc tae tct gcc tec cag gac cgc ace ate aaa gtc 143 Gly Asp Gly Leu Leu Tyr Ser Ala Ser Gin Asp Arg Thr He Lys Val 35 40 " 45 tgg aga get eat gac ggt gtg ctg tgc egg act ctg eaa ggc cac ggc 191 Trp Arg Ala His Asp Gly Val Leu Cys Arg Thr Leu Gin Gly His Gly 50 55 60 cac tgg gtg aac ace atg gcc etc age act gac tat gee ctg cgc act 239 His Trp Val Asn Thr Met Ala Leu Ser Thr Asp Tyr Ala Leu Arg Thr 65 70 75 ggg gcc ttt gaa cet get gag gcc tea gtt aat ccc eaa gac etc eaa 287 Gly Ala Phe Glu Pro Ala Glu Ala Ser Val Asn Fro Gin Asp Leu Gin 80 85 90 95 gga tec ttg cag gag ttg aag gag agg get ctg age cga tae aac etc 335 Giy Ser Leu Gin Glu Leu Lys Glu Arg Ala Leu Ser Arg Tyr A.sn Leu 100 105 110 gtg egg ggc cag ggt cca gag agg ctg gtg tct ggc tec gac gac ttc 383 Val Arg Gly Gin Giy Pro Glu Arg Leu Vai Ser Gly Ser A.sp Asp Phe 115 120 125 ace tta ttc ctg tgg tec cca gca gag gac aaa aag cet etc act egg 431 Thr Leu Phe Leu Trp Ser Pro Ala Glu Asp Lys Lys Pro Leu Thr Arg 130 135 140 atg aca gga cac eaa get etc ate aac cag gtg etc ttc tct cet gac 479 Met Thr Gly His Gin Ala Leu He Asn Gin Vai Leu Fhe Ser Fro Asp 145 150 155 tec cgc ate gtg get agt gcc tec ttt gac aag tec ate aag ctg tgg 527 Ser Arg He Val Ala Ser Ala Ser Phe Asp Lys Ser He Lys Leu Trp 160 165 170 175 gat ggc agg acg ggc aag tae ctg get tec eta cgc ggc cae gtg get 575 Asp Gly Arg Thr Gly Lys Tyr Leu Ala Ser Leu Arg Gly His Val Ala 180 185 " " 190 gee gtg tae eag att gcg tgg tea get gac agt egg etc ctg gtc age 623 Ala Val Tyr Gin He Ala Trp Ser Ala Asp Ser Arg Leu Leu Val Ser 195 200 205 ggc age agt gac age aca ctg aag gtg tgg gat gtg aag gee cag aag 671 Gly Ser Ser Asp Ser Thr Leu Lys Val Trp Asp Val Lys Ala Gin Lys 210 215 220 ctg gcc atg gac ctg ccc ggc cac gc gat gag gta tat get gtt gac 719 Leu Ala Met Asp Leu Pro Gly His Ala Asp Glu Val Tyr Ala Val Asp 225 230 235 tgg agt cca gat ggc cag aga gtg gca agt ggt ggg aag gac aaa tgc 767 Trp Ser Pro Asp Giy Gin Arg Val Ala Ser Gly Giy Lys Asp Lys Cys 240 245 250 255 etc egg ata tgg agg aga tgagacggcc cgaagttctc tctgacccee 815 Leu Arg He Trp Arg Arg 260 acctcgactc ggcctctgcc agctgccttc cccgccagag aacaaaggct gagatggcag 875 tgeaeacacc eteeecacca gtggggacct gagaatgcgt gtggcctget gtcctegata 935 gaccggaatg gggttttccc acagatccec gcctgtggca caccccagag ceagaaatcg 995 aaggtcacag gaagttgtca ctgaacttgg cccgtgtctg ctactetgta ecttgetggt 1055 acagacacgg gtgg gggca gccaggctct atgagtgggc cectagtgtc agctetgtac 1115 agggtcagat eeeaggttet atgaceaaat aagtaactta aaaaaaaaaa aaaaa 1170 <210> 4 <211> 261 <212> PRT <213> Homo sapiens <400> 4 Gly Arg Val Asp Arg He Trp Asp Thr Thr Ala Gly Arg Cys Glu Arg " l 5 10 15 He Leu Thr Gly His Thr Gin Ser Vai Thr Cys Leu Arg Trp Gly Gly 20 25 30 Asp Gly Leu Leu Tyr Ser Ala Ser Gin Asp Arg Thr He Lys Val Trp 35 40 45 Arg Ala His Asp Giy Val Leu Cys Arg Thr Leu Gin Gly His Gly His 50 55 60 Trp Val Asn Thr Met Ala Leu Ser Thr Asp Tyr Ala Leu Arg Thr Giy 55 70 75 80 Ala Phe Glu Pro Ala Glu Ala Ser Val Asn Pro Gin Asp Leu Gin Gly 85 90 95 Ser Leu Gin Glu Leu Lys Glu Arg Ala Leu Ser A.rg Tyr Asn Leu Vai 100 105 110 Arg Gly Gin Gly Pre Glu Arg Leu Vai Ser Gly Ser Asp Asp Phe Thr 115 120 125 Leu Fhe Leu Trp Ser Pro Ala Glu Asp Lys Lys Pro Leu Thr Arg Met 120 135 140 Thr Giy His Gin Ala Leu He Asn Gin Val Leu Phe Ser Pro Asp Ser 145 150 155 " 160 Arg He Val Ala Ser Ala Ser Fhe Asp Lys Ser He Lys Leu Trp Asp 165 170 175 Gly Arg Thr Gly Lys Tyr Leu Ala Ser Leu Arg Gly Kis Val Ala Ala 180 lc5 190 Val Tyr Gin He Ala Trp Ser Ala Asp Ser Arg Leu Leu Val Ser Gly 195 200 205 Ser Ser Asp Ser Thr Leu Lys Val Trp Asp Val Lys Ala Gin Lys Leu 210 215 220 Ala Met Asp Leu Pro Gly His Ala Asp Glu Vai Tyr Ala Val Asp Trp 225 230 235 240 Ser Pro Asp Gly Gin Arg Val Ala Ser Gly Gly Lys Asp Lys Cys Leu 245 250 255 Arg He Trp Arg Arg 260 <210> 5 <211> IE59 <212> DNA - <213> Homo sapiens <220> <221> CDS <222> (20) .. (1474) <400> 5 cgcecggcea ggtcgcagg atg gcg gca gca gtg gcg gac gag gcg gtg gcg 52 Met Ala Ala Ala Val Ala Asp Glu Ala Val -Ala 1 5 10 cgc gat gtg cag egg ttg eta gtg cag ttc cag gat gag ggc ggg cag 100 Arg Asp Val Gin Arg Leu Leu Val Gin Fhe Gin Asp Glu Gly Giy Gin 15 20 25 ctg ctg ggt tec ceg ttc gac gtg ccc gtg gac ate ace ccg gac agg 148 Leu Leu Gly Ser Pro Phe Asp Val Pro Val Asp He Thr Pro A.sp Arg 30 35 40 ctg cag etc gtg tgc aac gcg eta ctg gee cag gag gat ccc ctg cca 196 Leu Gin Leu Val Cys Asn Ala Leu Leu Ala Gin Glu Asp Pro Leu Pro 45 50 55 ctg get ttc ttt gtc cac gat get gag ate gtc tee tea etc ggg aag 244 Leu Ala Phe Phe Val His Asp Ala Glu He Vai Ser Ser Leu Gly Lys 60 65 70 " 75 acg ttg gag tec cag gca gtg gag εea gag aag gtc eta gac ate ate 292 Thr Leu Glu Ser Gin Ala Val Glu Thr Glu Lys Val Leu Asp He He 80 85 90 tae cag cca cag get ate ttc aga etc egg get gtg act ege tge ace 340 Tyr Gin Pro Gin Ala He Fhe Arg Val Arg Ala Val Thr Arg Cys Thr 95 100 105 age tee ttg gag ggt cac agt gag gca gtc att tet gtg gee ttc age 388 Ser Ser Leu Glu Gly His Ser Glu Ala Val He Ser Vai Ala Phe Ser 110 115 120 cet acg gga aag tae ctg gee agt ggc tet gga gac ace ace gtg cgc 436 Pro Thr Gly Lys Tyr Leu Ala Ser Gly Ser Gly Asp Thr Thr Val Arg 125 130 " 135 ttc tgg gat etc age aca gag aca cca cat ttc aca tec aag gga cac 484 P e Trp Asp Leu Ser Thr Glu Thr Fro His Fhe Thr Cys Lys Gly His 140 145 150 155 aga cac tgg gtc ctt agt ata tec tgg tet cca gat ggc aag aag ctg 532 Arg His Trp Val Leu Ser He Ser Trp Ser Pro Asp Gly Lys Lys Leu 160 165 170 gcc tea ggc tge aag aat ggc cag att etc etc tgg gac eea age aca 580 Ala Ser Gly Cys Lys A.sn Gly Gin He Leu Leu Trp Asp Pro Ser Thr 175 180 185 ggg aag cag gtg ggc agg ace ggc cac age aag t: ate aca 0..4 L- v Lys G n ϋ ϋ_v :g Tnr ._eu A...a Gly His Ser Lys T: 190 195 200 ggc ctg age tgg gag czz etc cat gcg aac cet gag tge cgc tat gtg o o Gly Leu Ser Trp Glu Pre Leu His Ala Asn Pro Glu Cys Arg Tyr Val 2C5 210 215 gcc age age tec aag gat ggc agt gtg egg ate tgg gac aca act gca 724 Ala Ser Ser Ser Lys Asp Gly Ser Val Arg He Trp Asp Thr Thr Ala 220 225 230 235 ggc cgc tgt gag cgc ate etc ace ggg cac ace cag teg gtc ace tgt 772 Giy Arg Cys Glu Arg He Leu Thr Gly H s Thr Gin Ser Vai Thr Cys 240 245 250 etc egg tgg gga ggg gac ggg ctt etc tae tet gcc tec cag gac cgc 820 Leu Arg Trp Gly Giy Asp Gly Leu Leu Tyr Ser Ala Ser Gin Asp Arg ace ate aaa gtc tgg aga get cat gac ggt gtg ctg tge egg act etg 858 Thr He Lys Vai Trp Arg Ala His Asp Gly Val Leu Cys Arg Thr Leu 270 275 280 eaa ggc cac ggc cac tgg gtg aac ace atg gcc etc age act gac tat 916 Gin Gly His Gly His Trp Val Asn Thr Met Ala Leu Ser Thr Asp Tyr 285 290 295 gee etg cgc act ggg gcc ttt gaa cet get gag gee tea gtt aat ccc 964 Ala Leu Arg Thr Giy Ala 7 ' r.e Glu Fro Ala Glu Ala Ser Val Asn Pro 300 305 310 315 eaa gac etc eaa gga tec ttg cag gag ttg aag gag agg get ctg age 1012 Gin Asp Leu Gin Gly Ser Leu Gin Glu Leu Lys Glu Arg Ala Leu Ser 320 325 330 cga tae aac etc gtg egg ggc cag ggt cca gag agg ctg gtg tct ggc 1060 Arg Tyr Asn Leu Vai Arg Giy Gin Giy Pre Glu Arg Leu Val Ser Gly 335 340 345 tec gac gac ttc ace tta ttc etg tgg tec cca gca gag gac aaa aag 1108 Ser Asp Asp Fhe Thr Leu Phe Leu Trp Ser Fro Ala Giu Asp Lys Lys 350 355 360 cet etc -act egg atg aca gga cac eaa get etc ate aac cag gtg ntc 1156 Pro Leu Thr Arg Met Thr Gly His Gin Ala Leu He Asn Gin Val Xaa 365 370 375 ttc tet cet gac tee cgc ate gtg get agt gcc tec ttt gac aag tec 1204 Fhe Ser Pro Asp Ser Arg He Val Ala Ser Ala Ser Phe Asp Lys Ser 380 385 390 395 ate aag ctg tgg gat ggc agg acg ggc aag tae ctg get tee eta cgc 1252 He Lys Leu Trp A.sp Giy Arg Thr Gly Lys Tyr Leu Ala Ser Leu Arg 400 405 410 ggc cac gtg get gcc gtg tae cag att gcg tgg tea get gac agt egg 1300 Gly His Val Ala Ala Val Tyr Gin He Ala Trp Ser Ala Asp Ser Arg 415 420 425 etc ctg gtc age ggc age agt gac age aca ctg aag gtg tgg gat gtg 1348 Leu Leu Val Ser Gly Ser Ser Asp Ser Thr Leu Lys Val Trp Asp Val 430 435 440 aag gcc cag aag ctg gcc atg gac ctg ccc cgc cac gcg gat gag gta 1396 Lys Ala Gin Lys Leu Ala Met Asp Leu Pro Gly His Ala Asp Giu Vai 445 450 455 tat get gtt gac tgg agt cca gat ggc cag aga gtg gca agt ggt ggg 1444 Tyr Ala Val Asp Trp Ser Pro Asp Giy Gin Arg Val Ala Ser Gly Gly 460 _ 465 470 475 aag gac aaa tge etc egg ata tgg agg aga tgagaeggce cgaagttcte 1494 Lys Asp Lys Cys Leu Arg He Trp Arg Arg 480 485 tetgacccce acetcgactc ggcctctgce agctgccttc cetgccagag aaeaaaggct 1554 gagatggcag tgeaeacacc eteeecacca gtggggacct gagaatgcgt gtggcctgct 1614 gtcetegata gaccggaatg gggttttecc acagatceee gectgtggca cacceeagag 1574 ccagaaatcg taggtcacag gaagttgtca ctgaacttgg eecgtgtctg ctactetgta 1734 ccttgetggt acagacaggg gtggtgggca gccaggctct atgagtgggc eectagtgtc 1794 agctetgtac agggtcagat ceeaggttct atgaccaaat aagtaactta aaaaaaaaaa 1S54 εaaaa 1859 n=a, c, g or t - 56 - <210> 6 <211> 485 <212> FRT <213> Homo sapiens <400> 6 Met Ala Ala Ala Val Ala Asp Glu Ala Val Ala Arg Asp Val Gin Are 1 5 10 * 15 Leu Leu Val Gin Phe Gin Asp Glu Gly Gly Gin Leu Leu Giy Ser Pro 20 25 30 Phe Asp Val Pro Val Asp He Thr Pro Asp Arg Leu Gin Leu Val Cvs 35 40 " " 45 Asn Ala Leu Leu Ala Gin Giu Asp Pro Leu Pro Leu Ala Pr.e Pne Vai 50 55 60 H s Asp Ala Glu He Val Ser Ser Leu Gly Lys Thr Leu Glu Ser Gin 65 70 75 SO Ala Val Glu Thr Glu Lys Val Leu Asp He He Tyr Gin Pro Gin Ala 85 90 95 He Fne Arg Val Arg Ala Val Thr Arg Cys Thr Ser Ser Leu Glu Gly 100 105 110 His Ser Glu Ala Val He Ser Val Ala Phe Ser Fro Thr Giy Lys Tyr 115 120 125 Leu Ala Ser Gly Ser Gly Asp Thr Thr Val Arg Fhe Trr. Aso Leu Ser 130 135 140 Thr Glu Thr Fro H s Phe Thr Cys Lys Gly His Arg His Trp Val Leu 145 150 155 150 Ser He Ser Trp Ser Pro Asp Gly Lys Lys Leu Ala Ser Gly Cys Lys 165 170 175 Asn Gly Gin He Leu Leu Trp Asp Pro Ser Thr Gly Lys Gin Val Gly 180 185 190 Arg Thr Leu Ala Gly His Ser Lys Trp He Tnr Gly Leu Ser Trp Glu 195 200 " 205 Pro Leu His Ala Asn Pro Glu Cys Arg Tyr Val Ala Ser Ser Ser Lys 210 215 220 Asp Giy Ser Val Arg He Trp Asp Thr Thr Ala Giy Arg Cys Glu Arg 225 230 235 240 He Leu Thr Gly His Thr Gin Ser Val Thr Cys Leu .Arg Trp Gly Giy 245 250 * 255 Asp Gly Leu Leu Tyr Ser Ala Ser Gin A.sp Arg Thr He Lys Val Trp 260 265 27C Arg Ala His Asp Gly Val Leu Cys Arg Thr Leu Gin Gly Kis Gly His 275 280 285 Trp Val Asn Thr Met Ala Leu Ser Thr Asp Tyr Ala Leu Arg Thr Gly 290 295 300 - 57 - Ala Fhe Glu Pro Ala Glu Ala Ser Val Asn Pro Gin Asp Leu Gin Gly 305 310 315 320 Ser Leu Gin Glu Leu Lys Glu Arg Ala Leu Ser Arg Tyr Asn Leu Vai 325 330 335 Arg Giy Gin Gly Pro Glu A.rg Leu Val Ser Giy Ser Asp Asp Phe Thr 340 345 350 Leu Phe Leu Trp Ser Fro Ala Glu Asp Lys Lys Pro Leu Thr Arg Met 360 365 Thr Giy His Gin Ala Leu He Asn Gin Val Xaa Fhe Ser Pro Asp Ser 370 375 380 :ie Val Ala Ser Ala Ser Phe Asp Lys Ser He Lys Leu Trp Asp 385 390 400 Giy Arg Thr Gly Lys Tyr Leu Ala Ser Leu Arg Gly His Val Ala Ala 405 410 415 Val Tyr Gin He Ala Trp Ser Ala Asp Ser Arg Leu Leu Vai Ser Giy 420 425 430 Ser Ser Asp Ser Thr Leu Lys Val Trp Asp Val Lys A.la Gin Lys Leu 435 440 445 Ala Met Asp Leu Fro Giy His Ala A.sp Glu Vai Tyr Ala Val Asp Trp 450 455 460 Ser Pro Asp Gly Gin .Arg Val Ala Ser Gly Gly Lys Asp Lys Cys Leu 465 470 475 " 480 Arg He Trp Arg Arg 485

Claims: 1/32614 What is claimed is: 1 A polynucleotide encoding a TZap protein or a biologically active fragment thereof comprising a DNA sequence selected from the group consisting of (i) DNA sequences comprising a nucleotide sequence encooiπg the ammo acid sequence depicted in SEQ ID NO 2 4 or 6 (π) DNA sequences comprising the nucleotide sequence depicted in SEQ ID NO 1 , 3 or 5, (in) DNA sequences comprising a πucleotiαe sεquence eπcooiπg a fragment or derivative of the protein encoded by the DNA sequεnce of (i) or (n), (iv) DNA sequεncεs the comDlemεniary strand of wnich hybπdizεs with and which is at lεast 70% identical to the polynucleotide as defined in any one of (i) to (m), (v) DNA sequences the nucleotide of which is degenerate to the nucleotide sequence of a DNA sequence of any one of (i) to (iv), and (vi) DNA sequences comprising a nucleotide sεquence εncoding a TZap-coπsensus sequence of the ammo acid sequences depicteα 2 A nucleic acid molecule of at least 15 nucleotides in length hybridizing specifically with a polynucleotidε of claim 1 or with a complementary strand thereof 3 A vector comprising the polynucleotidε of claim 1 or the nuclεic acid moiεcule of claim 2 4 The vector of claim 3, wherein said polynucleotiαe or nucleic acid moiεcule is operabiy linked to regulatory sequences allowing for tne transcription and optionally expression of said nucle'C acid molecule - 59 - A host cell comprising a polynucleotide of claim 1 or the vector of claim 3 or 4 A method for the production of a TZap protein or a biologically active fragment thereof comprising (a) cultunng the host of claim 5 under conditions allowing for the expression of the protein, or (b) in vitro translation of the polynucleotide of claim 1 , and recovering the protein produced in (a) or (b) A TZap protein or biologically active fragment thereof encoded by the nucleic molecule of claim 1 or produced by the method of claim 6 An antibody specifically recognizing the protein of claim 7 A normal cell that has beεn modified to express the protein of claim 7 or the antibody of claim 8 0 A pharmaceutical composition comprising the polynucleotide of claim 1 , the nucleic acid molecule of claim 2 a vector of claim 3 or 4 tne cell of claim 5 the protein of claim 7, the antibody of claim 8 or an aπtisense construct capable of inhibiting the expression of a polynucleotioe of claim 1 , and optionally a pharmaceutically accεptablε carπεr 1 The pharmaceutical composition of claim 10 for use in cεll or organ transplantation, for the treatmεnt of autoimmune, allergic or infectious diseases, or for the treatment of tumors 12 A diagnostic composition comprising a polynucleotide of claim 1 , the nucleic acid molecule of claim 2, the vector of claim 3 or A the cεll of claim 5 or S, thε protεin of claim 7, or thε antioody of claim 8, and optionally, at lεast oπε component wnich is labeled - 60 - A method of diagnosing a pathological condition or a susceptibility to a pathological condition in a subject relatεd to a disoroer in the immune system comprising (a) determining the presence or absence of a mutation in the polynucleotide of claim 1 , and (b) diagnosing a pathological condition or a susceptibility to a pathological condition based on the presence or absence of said mutation A method of diagnosing a pathological condition or a susceptibility to a pathological condition in a subject related to a disorαer in the immune system comprising (a) determining the presence or amount of expression of the protein of claim 7 in a biological sample, and (b) diagnosing a pathological condition or a susceptibility to a pathological condition based on the presence or amount of expression of the protein A method for identifying a binding partner to a TZap protein comprising (a) contacting a protein of claim 7 with a compound to be screened and (b) determining whether the compound effects an activity of the protein A method for identifying leukocyte activating or co-stimulating compounds or for identifying inhibitors of leukocyte activation and stimulation comprising (a) cultunng lymphocytes or monocytes in thε presence of the protein of claim 7 the antibody of claim 8 the cεll of claim 5 or 9 and optionally, in the presence of a component capable of provioing a oεtectabie signal in resoonse to leukocyte proliferation, with a compound to be scrεεnεd undεr conditions pεrmitting interaction of the compound with the (pσly)peptιde, antibody or cell(s), and (b) detεcting the orεsence or absence of a signal generatεd from the interaction of the compound with the cells A method of identifying modulators of immune responses comprising the steps of (a) incubating a candidate compound with TZaD7/A, TZap7/B and/or TZap7, (b) assaying a biological activity as described above, and (c) dεtεrmiπmg if a biological activity of TZap has beεn altered A method for the production of a pharmaceutical compositions comprising the steps of the method of any one of claims 15 to 17 and formulating and optionally synthesizing the compound identifiεd in step (b) in a pharmaceutically acceptable form A method for determining the status of an immune response comprising analyzing the presence of the polynucleotide of claim 1 or the protein of claim 7 Use of the polynucleotidε of claim 1 the nucleic acid molecule of claim 2, the vector of claim 3 or A the protein of claim 7, the antibody of claim 8, the cell of claim 5 or 9 or the compound identified according to the method of any on of claims 13 to 16 for the preparation of a composition for diagnosing or the treatment of acute and chronic diseases, involving T cell activation and Th1 and Th2 immune response, for the treatment of acute and chronic rejεction of allo-and xεno organ transplants and bonε marrow transplantation, for thε treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, lupus erythramatodes, multiple sclerosis, encεphalitis, vasculitis diabεtes mellitus, pancreatitis, gastritis, thyroiditis for the treatment of maiigne oisorders of T, B or NK cells, for the treatmεnt of asthma lepramatosis, Helicobacterpyioπ associatεd gastritis orforthe treatment of skin tumors - 62 - adrenal tumors or lung tumors, wound healing, growth disorders, inflammatory and/or infectious diseases. 21. Use of a polynucleotide of claim 1 , a nucleic acid moleculε of claim 2 or thε antibody of claim 8 for the detεction of leukocyte activation. 22. Use of claim 20, wherein said leukocyte is a B cell, T cell, NK cell and/or moπocyte.

Inventors: UTKU NALAN, UTKU, NALAN
Applicants: UTKU NALAN, UTKU, NALAN
Application year: 2000
Main classification: C07D
IPC codes: A61K31, A61K35, A61K38, A61K39, A61K48, A61P1, A61P3, A61P5, A61P11, A61P17, A61P19, A61P25, A61P29, A61P31, A61P35, A61P37, C07K14, C07K16, C12N1, C12N5, C12N15, C12P21, C12Q1