Patent ID: 7560532

Claim:
An antibody or an antigen-binding fragment thereof, which binds selectively a polypeptide encoded by an isolated nucleic acid molecule selected from the group consisting of: (a) full length complements of nucleic acid molecules which hybridize under stringent conditions to a molecule consisting of the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 and which code for a polypeptide provided that the nucleic acid molecules exclude sequences consisting only of SEQ ID NO:4, wherein the stringent conditions are selected from the group consisting of (1) hybridization at 65° C. in hybridization buffer (3.5×SSC, 0.02% Ficoll, 0.02% polyvinyl pyrrolidone, 0.02% Bovine Serum Albumin, 2.5 mM NaH 2 PO 4 (pH 7), 0.5% SDS, 2 mM EDTA), wherein SSC is 0.15M sodium chloride/0.015M sodium citrate, pH 7, SDS is sodium dodecyl sulphate, and EDTA is ethylenediaminetetracetic acid; and (2) hybridization at 65° C. in 5×SSC, 1% SDS, 5× Denhardt's solution and 10 μg/ml salmon sperm DNA, and (b) nucleic acid molecules that differ from the nucleic acid molecules of (a) in codon sequence due to the degeneracy of the genetic code.