Patent ID: 7314861

Claim:
An optionally substituted peptide having the structure: wherein X 6 is an optionally present amino acid that, if present, is either arginine or des-amino-arginine; X 7 is cysteine; X 8 is either methionine, alanine, or norleucine; X 9 is either leucine or alanine; X 10 is either glycine, alanine, leucine, norleucine, serine, sarcosine, gamma-aminobutyric acid, D-leucine, D-alanine, D-norleucine, D-asparagine, D-serine, β-alanine, phenylglycine, D-2-cyclohexyl-alanine, or D-phenylalanine; X 11 is either arginine, alanine, N-methyl-arginine, homoarginine, citrulline, norleucine, or flitroarginine; X 12 is valine or alanine; X 13 is either phenylalanine, tyrosine, D-(p-benzoylpbenylalanine), (1′)- and (2′)-naphthylalanine, cyclohexylalanine, or mono and multi-substituted phenylalanine wherein each substituent is independently selected from the group consisting of O-alkyl, alkyl, OH, NO 2 , NH 2 , F, I, and Br; X 14 is arginine; X 15 is alanine, proline or sarcosine; X 16 is either cysteine or D-cysteine; X 17 is an optionally present amino acid that, if present, is either tryptophan or tyrosine, Z 1 is an optionally present protecting group that, if present, is covalently joined to the N-terminal amino group; Z 2 is an optionally present protecting group that, if present, is covalently joined to the C-terminal carboxy group; or a labeled derivative of said peptide wherein said label is a detectable label selected from the group consisting of luminescent, enzymatic and radioactive; or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt of said peptide or of said labeled derivative; provided that one or more of the following groups are present: X 6 is des-amino-arginine; X 10 is either D-alanine, D-leucine, D-asparagine, D-norleucine, D-serine, β-alanine, phenylglycine, D-2-cyclohexyl-alanine, or D-phenylalanine, and X 11 is nitroarginine, citrulline, norleucine, or homoarginine.