Patent ID: 7662633

Claim:
A method for identifying a product that can disrupt an interaction of human osteopontin (OPN) and an α4 integrin, said method comprising the steps of: (i) providing, as a first component, a polypeptide that is: (a) up to 50 amino acids in length and comprises the amino acid sequence X 2 X 1 FPTDLPAX 3 X 4 (SEQ ID NO: 2), or (b) a fusion protein, wherein the polypeptide (a) is fused to an affinity tag, wherein: X 1 is absent or any amino acid and, if X 1 is present, X 2 is absent or any amino acid; and X 3 is absent or any amino acid and, if X 3 is present, X 4 is absent or any amino acid; (ii) providing, as a second component, an α4 integrin; and (iii) contacting the two components with a test product; and (iv) determining whether the test product disrupts the interaction between the first and second components.