Patent ID: 7855066

Claim:
A method of making Apo-2 ligand, comprising the steps of: (a) providing an E. Coli host cell comprising a replicable vector containing a nucleotide sequence encoding Apo-2 ligand polypeptide; (b) providing culture media containing zinc at a concentration of about 50 micromolar to about 250 micromolar; (c) culturing the host cell in the culture media under conditions sufficient to express the Apo-2 ligand; and (d) recovering the Apo-2 ligand from the host cell or culture media, wherein the Apo-2 ligand comprises a polypeptide selected from the group consisting of: (i) a polypeptide having amino acid residues 1 to 281 of FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NO:1); (ii) a polypeptide having amino acid residues 114 to 281 of FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NO:1); (iii) a fragment of the polypeptide of (i) or (ii) which induces apoptosis in at least one type of mammalian cell or binds an Apo-2 ligand receptor; and (iv) a polypeptide having at least 80% identity to the polypeptide of (i) or (ii), and induces apoptosis in at least one type of mammalian cell or binds an Apo-2 ligand receptor.