Patent ID: 8574857

Claim:
Method for identifying a compound that induces chondrocyte anabolic stimulation, comprising: (a) contacting a compound with a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence consisting of SEQ. ID. NO. 80 or 81, in an in vitro cell-free preparation; (b) measuring the binding affinity of said compound to said polypeptide; (c) selecting a compound based on its binding affinity to said polypeptide measured in step (b); (d) contacting said compound selected based on its binding affinity according to step (c) with a mammalian cell, which is in culture, and in which mammalian cell said polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ. ID. NO. 80 or 81 is expressed; (e) measuring in said culture containing said compound and mammalian cell of step (d), at least one protein that is expressed in said mammalian cell and that is an indicator of the anabolic stimulation of chondrocytes; (f) comparing said protein measurement in step (e) to the measurement of said protein in a culture of said mammalian cell that is not contacted with said compound; and (g) selecting a compound that increases said protein expressed by said mammalian cell, based on the comparing of step (f), as an inducer of chondrocyte anabolic stimulation in a mammalian cell.