Patent ID: 6861404

Claim:
A method of improving renal function in a mammal in, or at risk of, chronic renal failure comprising administering to said mammal a therapeutically effective amount of a morphogen, said morphogen comprising an amino acid sequence having (a) at least 70% amino acid sequence homology with the C-terminal seven-cysteine skeleton of human OP-1, or (b) the sequence of the C-terminal seven-cysteine skeleton of human OP-1 being set forth at amino acids 330-431 of SEQ ID NO:1, or (c) at least 60% amino acid identity with the C-terminal seven-cysteine skeleton of human OP-1; wherein said mammal is afflicted with a chronic renal condition: (i) characterized by the progressive loss of renal function associated with the progressive loss of functioning nephron units; and (ii) comprising at least one of the following: chronic diabetic nephropathy, diabetic glomerulopathy, diabetic renal hypertrophy, hypertensive nephrosclerosis, hypertensive glomerulosclerosis, renal dysplasia, glomerular hypertrophy, tubular hypertrophy, glomerulosclerosis and tubulointerstitial sclerosis, wherein said morphogen induces chondrogenesis in an in vivo ectopic bone assay, and wherein said therapeutically effective amount causes a clinically significant improvement in a standard marker of renal function in said mammal, so as to thereby improve renal function in the mammal.