Patent ID: 7265089

Claim:
A composition comprising: (a) a therapeutically effective amount of a KGF polyp eptide, wherein said KGF polypeptide is selected from the group consisting of: (i) a biologically active analog of KGF des1-22 , wherein said biologically active analog consists of the contiguous amino acid sequence depicted at amino acid residues 23-163, inclusive, of SEQ ID NO:26 with the N-terminal arginine residue substituted with an alanine residue and optionally with up to 7 other amino acid substitutions; and (ii) the polypeptide of (i), consisting of the amino acid sequence of (i), and an additional N-terminal methionine, wherein said KGF polypeptide exhibits an increase in bioactivity relative to mature, full-length, KGF (KGF 163 ) as determined by the Balb/MK bioactivity assay and specifically stimulates epithelial cell proliferation, and further wherein the therapeutically effective amount is 75% or less of the amount on a per molecule basis of KGF 163 needed to elicit an equivalent therapeutic response; and (b) a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient.