Patent Abstract:
the method of diagnosing lesions of crystalline lens such as cataract is disclosed . it comprises detecting variation of crygs gene , transcript and / or protein of individuals compared with normalty . the individual suffers from cataract more possible than normalty when occurring the variation . the present invention also discloses the method and pharmaceutical composition of treating lesions of crystalline lens such as cataract .

Detailed Description:
people have a limited knowledge about γs - crystallin ( in short , “ crygs ”) which is one kind of crystallins , and do not know whether it is relevant to cataract . the inventors of the invention have for the first time found out and proved that this crystallin has a close relationship with cataract . in addition , the new function of crygs that the changes of γs - crystallin will cause the lens illnesses and cataract is discovered . based on this discovery , the inventors accomplished the invention . the inventors established an autosomal recessive cataract mouse model . the mutation of γs - crystallin causes the mouse suffering from the lens lesion and cataract . the cataract locus of rncat mouse model was mapped onto the chromosome 16 by aflp , rh panel , str markers and other methods . it is found that the crygs gene mutation located at 16cm on mouse chromosome 16 is relative to cataract by the sscp analysis . our study suggests that mouse crygs protein is closely related to cataract and is involved in the regulation of epithelial cell development , differentiation , proliferation and stabilization . the stable presence of mouse crygs is key to maintain the normal physiological state of lens . the mutation of γs - crystallin is one of the direct causes for lens illnesses , such as cataract . by comparing the protein homology , we have found human γs - crystallin ( crygs ) shared a high homology with mouse crygs ( identity = 160 / 178 , 89 %; similiarity = 172 / 178 , 95 %). this result suggests that we can find the counterparts in human for those changes in mouse crygs gene and the resultant physiological changes . so the mutation of human crygs can also lead to the lens illnesses in human . based on the crygs gene and its expression products , one can develop new drugs and diagnosis / treatment techniques for detecting and treating human lens illnesses . the crygs protein or polypeptide have various uses including but not limited to : curing disorders caused by low or no activity of crygs protein ( using directly as a medicine ), and screening out antibodies , polypeptides or ligands which promote the function of crygs . the expressed recombinant crygs protein can be used to screen polypeptide library to find therapeutically valuable polypeptide molecules which activate the function of crygs protein . in another aspect , the invention also includes polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies , preferably monoclonal antibodies , which are specific for polypeptides encoded by human crygs dna or fragments thereof . by “ specificity ”, it is meant an antibody which binds to the human crygs gene products or a fragments thereof . preferably , the antibody binds to the human crygs gene products or fragments thereof and does not substantially recognize nor bind to other antigenically unrelated molecules . antibodies which bind to human crygs and block human crygs protein and those which do not affect the human crygs function are included in the invention . the present invention includes not only intact monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies , but also immunologically - active antibody fragments , e . g ., a fab ′ or ( fab ) 2 fragment , an antibody heavy chain , an antibody light chain , a genetically engineered single chain fv molecule ( lander , et al ., u . s . pat . no . 4 , 946 , 778 ), or a chimeric antibody , e . g ., an antibody which contains the binding specificity of a murine antibody , but the remaining portion of which is of human origin . the antibodies in the present invention can be prepared by various techniques known to those skilled in the art . for example , purified human crygs gene products , or its antigenic fragments can be administrated to animals to induce the production of polyclonal antibodies . similarly , cells expressing human crygs or its antigenic fragments can be used to immunize animals to produce antibodies . the antibodies of the invention can be monoclonal antibodies which can be prepared by using hybridoma technique ( see kohler , et al ., nature , 256 ; 495 , 1975 ; kohler , et al ., eur . j . immunol . 6 : 511 , 1976 ; kohler , et al ., eur . j . immunol . 6 : 292 , 1976 ; hammerling , et al ., in monoclonal antibodies and t cell hybridomas , elsevier , n . y ., 1981 ). antibodies of the invention comprise those which block human crygs function and those which do not affect human crygs function . antibodies in the invention can be produced by routine immunology techniques and using fragments or functional regions of human crygs gene product . these fragments and functional regions can be prepared by recombinant methods or synthesized by a polypeptide synthesizer . the antibodies binding to unmodified human crygs gene product can be produced by immunizing animals with gene products produced by prokaryotic cells ( e . g ., e . coli ), and the antibodies binding to post - translationally modified forms thereof can be acquired by immunizing animals with gene products produced by eukaryotic cells ( e . g ., yeast or insect cells ). the antibody against human crygs protein can be used in immunohistochemical method to detect the presence of crygs protein in the biopsy specimen . the polyclonal antibodies can be prepared by immunizing animals , such as rabbit , mouse , and rat , with human crygs protein . various adjuvants , e . g ., freund &# 39 ; s adjuvant , can be used to enhance the immunization . the substances which act with crygs protein , e . g ., inhibitors , agonists and antagonists , can be screened out by various conventional techniques , using the protein of the invention . the protein , antibody , inhibitor , agonist or antagonist of the invention provide different effects when administrated in therapy . usually , these substances are formulated with a non - toxic , inert and pharmaceutically acceptable aqueous carrier . the ph typically ranges from 5 to 8 , preferably from about 6 to 8 , although ph may alter according to the property of the formulated substances and the diseases to be treated . the formulated pharmaceutical composition is administrated in conventional routine including , but not limited to , intramuscular , intravenous , subcutaneous , or topical administration including circumocular , retrobulbar and intraocular injection . the topical administration at eyes is preferred . the normal crygs can be directly used for curing disorders , e . g ., lens illnesses including cataract . the crygs protein of the invention can be administrated in combination with other cataract medicaments . the invention also provides a pharmaceutical composition comprising safe and effective amount of crygs protein in combination with a suitable pharmaceutical carrier . such a carrier includes but is not limited to saline , buffer solution , glucose , water , glycerin , ethanol , or the combination thereof . the pharmaceutical formulation should be suitable for the delivery method . the pharmaceutical composition of the invention may be in the form of injections which are made by conventional methods , using physiological saline or other aqueous solution containing glucose or auxiliary substances . the pharmaceutical compositions in the form of eyedrops , eye ointments , tablet or capsule may be prepared by routine methods . the pharmaceutical compositions , e . g ., eyedrops , eye ointments , injections , solutions , tablets , and capsules , should be manufactured under sterile conditions . the active ingredient is administrated in therapeutically effective amount , e . g ., from about 1 ug to 5 mg per kg body weight per day . moreover , the polypeptide of the invention can be administrated together with other therapeutic agents . when using pharmaceutical composition , the safe and effective amount of the crygs protein or its antagonist or agonist is administrated to mammals . typically , the safe and effective amount is at least about 0 . 1 ug / kg body weight and less than about 10 mg / kg body weight in most cases , and preferably about 0 . 1 - 100 ug / kg body weight . of course , the precise amount will depend upon various factors , such as delivery methods , the subject health , and the like , and is within the judgment of the skilled clinician . the human crygs polynucleotides also have many therapeutic applications . gene therapy technology can be used in the therapy of abnormal cell proliferation , development or metabolism , which is caused by the loss of crygs expression or the expression of abnormal or non - active crygs . the methods for constructing a recombinant virus vector harboring crygs gene are described in the literature ( sambrook , et al .). in addition , the recombinant crygs gene can be packed into liposome and then transferred into the cells . the methods for introducing the polynucleotides into tissues or cells include : directly injecting the polynucleotides into tissue in the body , in vitro introducing the polynucleotides into cells with vectors , such as virus , phage , or plasmid , and then transplanting the cells into the body . the invention further provides diagnostic assays for quantitative and in situ measurement of crygs protein level . these assays are well known in the art and include fish assay and radioimmunoassay . the level of crygs protein detected in the assay can be used to illustrate the importance of crygs protein in diseases and to determine the diseases associated with crygs protein . a method of detecting the presence of crygs protein in a sample by utilizing the antibody specifically against crygs protein comprises the steps of : contacting the sample with the antibody specifically against crygs protein ; observing the formation of antibody complex which indicates the presence of crygs protein in a sample . the polynucleotide encoding crygs protein can be used in the diagnosis and treatment of crygs protein related diseases . in respect of diagnosis , the polynucleotide encoding crygs can be used to detect whether crygs is expressed or not , and whether the expression of crygs is normal or abnormal , e . g ., in the case of diseases . crygs dna sequences can be used in the hybridization with biopsy samples to determine the expression of crygs . the hybridization methods include southern blotting , northern blotting and in situ blotting , etc ., which are public and sophisticated techniques . the corresponding kits are commercially available . a part of or all of the polynucleotides of the invention can be used as probe and fixed on a microarray or dna chip for analyzing the differential expression of genes in tissues and for the diagnosis of genes . the crygs specific primers can be used in rna - polymerase chain reaction and in vitro amplification to detect the transcripts of crygs . further , detection of the mutation of crygs gene is useful for the diagnosis of crygs protein related diseases . the mutation forms of crygs include site mutation , translocation , deletion , rearrangement and any other mutations compared with the normal wild - type crygs dna sequence . the conventional methods , such as southern blotting , dna sequencing , pcr and in situ blotting , can be used to detect mutation . moreover , mutation sometimes affects the expression of protein . therefore , northern blotting and western blotting can be used to indirectly determine whether the gene is mutated or not . the invention is further illustrated by the following examples . it is appreciated that these examples are only intended to illustrate the invention , but not to limit the scope of the invention . for the experimental methods in the following examples , they are performed under routine conditions , e . g ., those described by sambrook . et al ., in molecule clone : a laboratory manual , new york : cold spring harbor laboratory press , 1989 , or as instructed by the manufacturers , unless otherwise specified . in this invention , the crygs sequence and other helpful information can be found in the following electric database . genbank overview , ( mouse crygs [ af032995 se id no : 29 , af055702 ( seq id no : 30 and af055703 seq id no : 31 )] and human crygs [ af161703 seq id no : 32 1 )]). the autosomal recessive cataract mutation arose spontaneously in a kunming outbred mouse strain . we maintained the mice by sib mating . after more than 20 generations of sib mating for ten years , the mutant mice were stabilized and formed an independent strain — autosomal recessive cataract mice model ( rncat ). cataract model mice ( rncat ) is an autosomal recessive cataract model which is an independent strain after 20 generations of sib mating for ten years . the cataract develops spontaneously during propagation . the development of cataract in rncat mouse is a progressive process ( fig1 a - 1c ). the lens is transparent during 0 to 10 days and the mist - shaped white can be observed during 10 to 15 days ( fig1 a ). during 15 to 30 days , the cataract is matured gradually to form a typical nuclear cataract ( fig1 b , and 1 c ). in genetic analysis , the cataract mice were crossed to the inbred line of b10sn mice to generate f1 hybrids , which were further backcrossed to the mutant mice to generate f2 mice . hence , there were two phenotypes in f2 mice lenses : normal and cataract . the dna samples for genetic analysis were prepared from liver tissues of 40 days old f2 mice . initially , amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis ( aflp ) was performed to map the rncat locus . the genomic dna of f2 mice was digested with ecori / msei or ecori / taqi . then , the corresponding adapters were linked to the ends of the digested fragments . after overnight linkage at 16 ° c ., the linkage products were diluted 10 times and pre - amplified with the primers of ecori and mse i combination , or of eco ri and taq i combination . after the standard pre - amplification , the pcr products were diluted 10 times and amplified in a selective amplification with eco ri and mse i selective amplification primers , or eco ri and taq i selective amplification primers . an m13 operon sequence was added to the 5 ′ end of ecori selective primer to facilitate the detection by the li - cor automated sequencer . after selective amplification , the pcr products were separated on denaturing polyacrylamide gel and detected on an automatic fluorescent sequencer . the selective ecori - primer was modified by adding an m13 tail to facilitate detection by the li - cor ir 2 automated sequencer . we found that , in the fragments amplified by ecori - cac and taq i - act selective amplification primers , there was a fragment linked to the cataract phenotype . this fragment was labeled with isotope , re - amplified , recovered from denaturing polyacrylamide gel and sequenced . based on the sequencing results , the following primers were designed : the fragment was mapped onto mouse chromosome 16 and close to microsatellite marker d16mit39 ( lod & gt ; 3 ) by using pcr - based mouse radiation hybrid panel ( research genetics inc . huntsville , ala ., usa ) and the above primers . based on the above results , six microsatellite markers , d16mit129 , d16mit9 , d16mit60 , d16mit59 , d16mit158 and d16mit6 , were further used to narrow down the rncat locus . as a result , the gene causing mouse cataract was located between microsatellite markers d16mit9 and d16mit60 . in the above location , cryge gene is an important candidate gene which specifically expressed in the eye and highly expressed at lens . we designed seven pairs of primers covering all the exons , intron / exon boundaries and some operon sequences of crygs :. using these seven pairs of primers and sscp analysis , the mutation of crygs gene in our cataract model mice was detected . four pairs of primers , crygs - 2 , crygs - 4 , crygs - 6 , and crygs - 7 , detected the crygs gene of cataract mice was different from that of normal mice . the sequence results showed that crygs - 6 and crygs - 7 detected the mutation in the same site . crygs - 2 corresponded to intron 1 . crygs - 4 corresponded to intron 2 . crygs - 6 and 7 corresponded to exon 3 . the mutations detected on an automatic sequencer were as follows ( fig3 ): a g76 → c76 substitution at nt76 in intron 1 . ( fig3 a ) an a11 → g11 substitution at nt11 in intron 2 and a 4 bp repetition ( atgt ) at position 24 in intron 2 ( fig3 b ) a g489 → a489 substitution at position 489 in the mrna encoding sequence or exon 3 ( fig3 c ). the sequencing of crygs transcript of rncat mice also showed the mutation of g489 → a489 which changed sequence from cc gtcgatt gg ( seq id no : 33 ) into cc gtcgatt ga . this mutation results in the loss of a bsli site of ccn 7 gg ( seq id no : 35 ). in the detection of enzyme digestion , the mutant is not recognized by bsli and , thus , not digested because of said mutation . the g489 → a489 mutation changes the amino acid trp163 in cryge protein into a stop codon . therefore , the crygs protein consisting of 178 amino acids is changed into a mutant having 162 amino acids . this change directly causes mice to exhibit cataract and pathological changes of lens ( fig2 a - f ): the lens epithelial cells are exceedingly proliferated and differentiated . vacuoles are formed . cortex fibers are denaturalization underneath the posterior lens and completely disordered . calcium - dots and blue - stained spherical bodies are seen ; opacity of the lens appeared 11 days after birth and progressed with age ( fig1 a , 1 b , and 1 c ). slit lamp examination showed that the opacity remained concentrated in the nuclear region in homozygous mutant mice while the lenses of heterozygous mice remained normal . histological examinations of epithelial lens cells showed a notable degeneration and loss of proper junction . epithelial cells in the equatorial region seemed to over proliferate and displayed a reduced potential for differentiation . the proliferative cells appeared to migrate extensively towards the anterior and posterior poles . although crygs is expressed in retina , retina cells appear normal in morphology . in the cortical area underneath the posterior lens capsule , vacuoles and morgagnian - like bodies were seen , while in the nucleus of the lens , blue - stained spherical bodies form an unusual y - like pattern . the lens fibers seemed to have lost their normal orientations while the central region of the lens appeared pink compared to the outer cortex region . except for the lens abnormalities described here , no other morphological or behavioral abnormalities were observed in the mutant mice . in order to identify the gene responsible for the defect , we performed a genome - wide search using amplified fragment length polymorphism ( aflp ) markers initially on 6 mutants and 5 wild - type f2 mice . a polymorphic band associated with cataract was identified in the 11 mice tested . to confirm this association , 20 additional f2 mice were subjected to genotyping analysis and consistent results were obtained . in order to map the polymorphic band in the mouse genome , we sequenced these polymorphic pcr products . pcr primers were then designed based on sequencing results and were used to screen a mouse radiation hybrid panel so as to locate the position on chromosomes . to further locate the cataract locus , we genotyped 191 f2 mice using 6 microsatellite markers in 3 . 3 - 45 . 9 cm and mapped the rncat locus to the interval between 4 . 4 cm and 25 . 1 cm of chromosome 16 . the candidate gene , γs - crystallin or crygs gene was located in this region . mouse crygs gene sequence is available from genbank database . for mutation analysis , we performed a single strand conformation polymorphisms analysis ( sscp ). from the sequencing results , interestingly , a g → c substitution at position 76 of intron 1 , an a → g substitution at position 11 of intron 2 , and an atgt insertion at position 24 of intron 2 were also identified in the mutant mice . surprisingly , among 10 different outbred mouse strains with wild - type phenotype , we found g489a substitution and no other mutation in these two introns . if the g489a substitution in this mouse has the same origin as in the cataract mutant mice , the intron mutations must have arisen after the g489a substitution . the γs - crystallin protein encoded by the crygs gene is folded into four β - sheet motifs , which are organized into two domains . the g489a mutation may interrupt the formation of the c - terminal domain . sequence alignment indicates that the trp163 is a highly conserved amino acid residue among γ - crystallin members in mouse and other species , suggesting that trp163 may be essential for the normal function of γs - crystallin . in vitro , γs - crystallin plays an important role in suppressing the aggregation of other γ - crystallins and in interacting with α - crystallin . the truncated γs - crystallins may lose normal functions with other molecules or cause themselves insoluble . in the mutant mice , the pink stained nucleus in the central region of the lens suggests a lower ph value in the nucleus compared to the outer cortex region , and may be a result of the aggregation of acid molecules . because γs - crystallin gene mainly expresses in the secondary lens fiber cells , most of which are in nucleus , we postulate that most of the aggregated molecules in the nucleus are not the truncated γs - crystallins but other acid proteins . analysis of histological results indicates that the truncated γs - crystallin promotes the proliferation and migration of epithelial cells , and a disorder in lens fiber architecture in mutant mice is readily observed . this suggests that γs - crystallin may be involved in epithelial cell growth and migration , which in turn may contribute to lens fiber organization . additionally , epithelial cell degeneration and disjunction may result from the cellular toxic effect of the truncated γs - crystallin . crygs expression is not limited to the lens but is also present in the retina , cornea and some tumor tissues , suggesting multiple functions of the γs - crystallin protein in development and pathogenesis . it is unclear if the g489a mutation affects the physiology of retina and cornea . histological examination has showed no obvious morphological abnormalities in retina cells in mutant mice . the expression of crygs gene remains high until 7 days after death in mouse . from our materials , expression of crygs gene is early - onset and high in mutant mice . the γs - crystallin absorbs ultraviolet as well as short wave blue radiation , thereby protecting the retina against photic damage . crygs gene might play a similar role in the lens as that in the retina . overall , the study of this invention plays an important role in improve the molecular mechanism research of cataract and lens development . all the documents cited herein are incorporated into the invention as reference , as if each of them is individually incorporated . further , it would be appreciated that , in the above teaching of the invention , the skilled in the art could make certain changes or modifications to the invention , and these equivalents would still be within the scope of the invention defined by the appended claims of the present application . berry v , francis p , kaushal s , moore a , bhattacharya s ( 2000 ) missense mutations in mip underlie autosomal dominant ‘ polymorphic ’ and lamellar cataracts linked to 12q . nat genet 25 : 15 - 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