Patent ID: 8541177

Claim:
An in vitro method for identifying an inhibitor of the glypican-sclerostin interaction comprising the steps of: a) contacting sclerostin with glypican in the presence and absence of the candidate inhibitor under conditions permitting the binding of the glypican to sclerostin; and b1) measuring binding of the glypican to sclerostin, wherein a decrease in binding in the presence of the candidate inhibitor, relative to binding in the absence of the candidate inhibitor, identifies the candidate inhibitor as an inhibitor of the glypican-sclerostin interaction, or b2) measuring the signaling response induced by the glypican-sclerostin interaction in the presence of the candidate inhibitor, and comparing it with the signaling response induced by the glypican-sclerostin interaction in the absence of the candidate inhibitor, wherein a change in the signaling response identifies the candidate inhibitor as an inhibitor of the glypican-sclerostin interaction; wherein the glypican is selected from the group consisting of glypican-1, glypican-2, glypican-3, glypican-4, glypican-5, and glypican-6.