EP1196191A1 - Recepteur 5 contenant le domaine de l'apoptose - Google Patents

Recepteur 5 contenant le domaine de l'apoptose

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Publication number
EP1196191A1
EP1196191A1 EP00930329A EP00930329A EP1196191A1 EP 1196191 A1 EP1196191 A1 EP 1196191A1 EP 00930329 A EP00930329 A EP 00930329A EP 00930329 A EP00930329 A EP 00930329A EP 1196191 A1 EP1196191 A1 EP 1196191A1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
polypeptide
antibody
amino acid
sequence
polypeptides
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
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EP00930329A
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German (de)
English (en)
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EP1196191A4 (fr
Inventor
Jian Ni
Reiner L. Gentz
Guo-Liang Yu
Craig A. Rosen
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Human Genome Sciences Inc
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Human Genome Sciences Inc
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Publication of EP1196191A1 publication Critical patent/EP1196191A1/fr
Publication of EP1196191A4 publication Critical patent/EP1196191A4/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
    • C07K—PEPTIDES
    • C07K14/00—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof
    • C07K14/435—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof from animals; from humans
    • C07K14/705—Receptors; Cell surface antigens; Cell surface determinants
    • C07K14/70578—NGF-receptor/TNF-receptor superfamily, e.g. CD27, CD30, CD40, CD95
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
    • A61K39/00—Medicinal preparations containing antigens or antibodies
    • A61K39/395—Antibodies; Immunoglobulins; Immune serum, e.g. antilymphocytic serum
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
    • A61P29/00—Non-central analgesic, antipyretic or antiinflammatory agents, e.g. antirheumatic agents; Non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs [NSAID]
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
    • A61P31/00—Antiinfectives, i.e. antibiotics, antiseptics, chemotherapeutics
    • A61P31/12—Antivirals
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
    • A61P35/00—Antineoplastic agents
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
    • A61P37/00—Drugs for immunological or allergic disorders
    • A61P37/02—Immunomodulators
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
    • A61P37/00—Drugs for immunological or allergic disorders
    • A61P37/02—Immunomodulators
    • A61P37/04—Immunostimulants
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
    • A61P43/00—Drugs for specific purposes, not provided for in groups A61P1/00-A61P41/00
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
    • A61K38/00—Medicinal preparations containing peptides
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
    • C07K—PEPTIDES
    • C07K2319/00—Fusion polypeptide
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
    • C07K—PEPTIDES
    • C07K2319/00—Fusion polypeptide
    • C07K2319/30—Non-immunoglobulin-derived peptide or protein having an immunoglobulin constant or Fc region, or a fragment thereof, attached thereto

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a novel member of the tumor necrosis factor family of receptors. More specifically, isolated nucleic acid molecules are provided encoding human Death Domain Containing Receptor 5, or simply "DR5.” DR5 polypeptides are also provided, as are vectors, host cells, and recombinant methods for producing the same. The invention further relates to screening methods for identifying agonists and antagonists of DR5 activity.
  • TNF tumor necrosis factors
  • TNF- ⁇ lymphotoxin- ⁇
  • LT- a lymphotoxin- ⁇
  • LT- ⁇ lymphotoxin- ⁇
  • FasL CD40L
  • CD27L CD30L
  • 4-1BBL 4-1BBL
  • OX40L nerve growth factor
  • NGF nerve growth factor
  • the superfamily of TNF receptors includes the p55TNF receptor, p75TNF receptor,
  • TNF receptor-related protein FAS antigen or APO-1
  • CD40 CD27, CD30, 4-1BB
  • OX40 low affinity ⁇ 75 and NGF-receptor
  • Many members of the TNF-ligand superfamily are expressed by activated T-cells, implying that they are necessary for T-cell interactions with other cell types which underlie cell ontogeny and functions. (Meager, A., supra).
  • TNF and LT- ⁇ are capable of binding to two TNF receptors (the 55- and 75-kd TNF receptors).
  • TNF and LT- ⁇ are involved in the pathogenesis of a wide range of diseases, including endotoxic shock, cerebral malaria, tumors, autoimmune disease, AIDS and graft-host rejection (Beutler, B. and VonHuffel, C, Science 264:661-66% (1994)). Mutations in the p55 Receptor cause increased susceptibility to microbial infection.
  • Apoptosis or programmed cell death, is a physiologic process essential for the normal development and homeostasis of multicellular organisms (H.
  • Derangements of apoptosis contribute to the pathogenesis of several human diseases including cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (C.B. Thompson, Science
  • Fas/APO- 1 and TNFR- 1 While family members are defined by the presence of cysteine-rich repeats in their extracellular domains, Fas/APO- 1 and TNFR- 1 also share a region of intracellular homology, appropriately designated the "death domain", which is distantly related to the Drosophila suicide gene, reaper (P. Golstein, et al., Cell 57: 185-186 (1995); K. White el al, Science 264:677-83 (1994)). This shared death domain suggests that both receptors interact with a related set of signal transducing molecules that, until recently, remained unidentified.
  • Fas/APO-1 recruits the death domain-containing adapter molecule FADD MORT1 (A.M. Chinnaiyan et al, Cell 57: 505-12 (1995); M. P. Boldin et al, J. Biol Chem 270:119- -- (1995); F.C. Kischkel et al, EMBO 74:5579-5588 (1995)), which in turn binds and presumably activates FLICE/MACH1, a member of the ICE/CED-3 family of pro-apoptotic proteases (M. Muzio etal, Cell 5/817 '-827
  • TNFR-1 can signal an array of diverse biological activities-many of which stem from its ability to activate NF-kB (L. A. Tartaglia etal, Immunol Today 73: 151-3 (1992)). Accordingly, TNFR-1 recruits the multivalent adapter molecule TRADD, which like FADD, also contains a death domain (H. Hsu etal, Cell 57:495-504 (1995); H. Hsu, etal, Cell 84:299- 308 (1996)).
  • TRADD can signal both apoptosis and NF-kB activation (H. Hsu et ⁇ /., Cell 84:299-3 - (1996); H. Hsu, etal, Immunity 4:3 - 1 - 396 (1996)).
  • TRAIL Unlike FAS ligand, whose transcripts appear to be largely restricted to stimulated T-cells, significant levels of TRAIL are detected in many human tissues (e.g., spleen, lung, prostate, thymus, ovary, small intestine, colon, peripheral blood lymphocytes, placenta, kidney), and is constitutively transcribed by some cell lines.
  • TRAIL acts independently from the Fas ligand (Wiley et al, supra). It has also been shown that TRAIL activates apoptosis rapidly, within a time frame that is similar to death signaling by Fas/Apo- 1 L, but much faster than TNF-induced apoptosis. S.A. Marsterset /., Current Biology 6:150-152 (1996). The inability of TRAIL to bind TNFR-1, Fas, or the recently identified DR3, suggests that TRAIL may interact with a unique receptor(s).
  • TNF family ligands and TNF family receptors are varied and influence numerous functions, both normal and abnormal, in the biological processes of the mammalian system. There is a clear need, therefore, for identification and characterization of such receptors and ligands that influence biological activity, both normally and in disease states. In particular, there is a need to isolate and characterize additional novel receptors that bind TRAIL.
  • the present invention provides for isolated nucleic acid molecules comprising, or alternatively consisting of, nucleic acid sequences encoding the amino acid sequence shown in FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NO:2) or the amino acid sequence encoded by the cDNA deposited as ATCC Deposit No. 97920 on March 7, 1997.
  • the present invention also provides recombinant vectors, which include the isolated nucleic acid molecules of the invention, and to host cells containing the recombinant vectors, as well as to methods of making such vectors and host cells and for using them for production of DR5 polypeptides or peptides by recombinant techniques.
  • the invention further provides an isolated DR5 polypeptide having an amino acid sequence encoded by a polynucleotide described herein.
  • the present invention also provides diagnostic assays such as quantitative and diagnostic assays for detecting levels of DR5 protein.
  • diagnostic assays such as quantitative and diagnostic assays for detecting levels of DR5 protein.
  • a diagnostic assay in accordance with the invention for detecting over-expression of DR5, or soluble form thereof, compared to normal control tissue samples may be used to detect the presence of tumors.
  • Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) family ligands are known to be among the most pleiotropic cytokines, inducing a large number of cellular responses, including cytotoxicity, anti-viral activity, immunoregulatory activities, and the transcriptional regulation of several genes.
  • Cellular response to TNF-family ligands include not only normal physiological responses, but also diseases associated with increased apoptosis or the inhibition of apoptosis.
  • Apoptosis - programmed cell death - is a physiological mechanism involved in the deletion of peripheral T lymphocytes of the immune system, and its dysregulation can lead to a number of different pathogenic processes.
  • Diseases associated with increased cell survival, or the inhibition of apoptosis include cancers, autoimmune disorders, viral infections, inflammation, graft versus host disease, acute graft rejection, and chronic graft rejection.
  • Diseases associated with increased apoptosis include ALDS, neurodegenerative disorders, myelodysplastic syndromes, ischemic injury, toxin-induced liver disease, septic shock, cachexia and anorexia.
  • the invention further provides a method for enhancing apoptosis induced by a TNF-family ligand, which involves administering to a cell which expresses the DR5 polypeptide an effective amount of an agonist capable of increasing DR5 mediated signaling.
  • DR5 mediated signaling is increased to treat and/or prevent a disease wherein decreased apoptosis is exhibited.
  • the present invention is directed to a method for inhibiting apoptosis induced by a TNF-family ligand, which involves administering to a cell which expresses the DR5 polypeptide an effective amount of an antagonist capable of decreasing DR5 mediated signaling.
  • DR5 mediated signaling is decreased to treat and/or prevent a disease wherein increased apoptosis is exhibited.
  • any candidate "agonist" or "antagonist” of the present invention can enhance or inhibit apoptosis can be determined using art-known TNF-family ligand/receptor cellular response assays, including those described in more detail below.
  • a screening method for determining whether a candidate agonist or antagonist is capable of enhancing or inhibiting a cellular response to a TNF-family ligand.
  • the method involves contacting cells which express the DR5 polypeptide with a candidate compound and a TNF-family ligand, assaying a cellular response, and comparing the cellular response to a standard cellular response, the standard being assayed when contact is made with the ligand in absence of the candidate compound, whereby an increased cellular response over the standard indicates that the candidate compound is an agonist of the ligand/receptor signaling pathway and a decreased cellular response compared to the standard indicates that the candidate compound is an antagonist of the ligand/receptor signaling pathway.
  • a cell expressing the DR5 polypeptide can be contacted with either an endogenous or exogenously administered TNF-family ligand.
  • FIG. 1 shows the nucleotide (SEQ LD NOJ) and deduced amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 2) of DR5. It is predicted that amino acids from about 1 to about 51 (underlined) constitute the signal peptide (amino acid residues from about -51 to about -1 in SEQ ED NO:2); amino acids from about 52 to about 184 constitute the extracellular domain (amino acid residues from about 1 to about 133 in SEQ ID NO:2); amino acids from about 84 to about 179 constitute the cysteine rich domain (amino acid residues from about 33 to 128 in SEQ ID NO: 2); amino acids from about 185 to about 208 (underlined) constitute the transmembrane domain (amino acid residues from about 134 to about 157 in SEQ ID NO:2); and amino acids from about 209 to about 411 constitute the intracellular domain (amino acid residues from about 158 to about 360 in SEQ ID NO:2), of which amino acids from about 324 to about 391
  • FIG. 2 shows the regions of similarity between the amino acid sequences of DR5 (HLYBX88), human tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (h TNFR-1) (SEQ ID NOJ), human Fas protein (SEQ ID NOJ), and the death domain containing receptor 3 (SEQ ED NO:5).
  • HLYBX88 human tumor necrosis factor receptor 1
  • h TNFR-1 human tumor necrosis factor receptor 1
  • SEQ ID NOJ human Fas protein
  • SEQ ID NOJ the death domain containing receptor 3
  • FIG. 3 shows an analysis of the DR5 amino acid sequence.
  • Alpha, beta, turn and coil regions; hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity; amphipathic regions; flexible regions; antigenic index and surface probability are shown, as predicted for the amino acid sequence depicted in FIG. 1 using the default parameters of the recited computer program.
  • amino acid residues about 62 to about 110, about 119 to about 164, about 224 to about 271, and about 275 to about 370 as depicted in FIG. 1 correspond to the shown highly antigenic regions of the DR5 protein.
  • FIG. 1 correspond to the following fragments, respectively, in SEQ ID NO:2: amino acid residues from about 11 to about 59, from about 68 to about 113, from about 173 to about 220, and from about 224 to about 319.
  • FIG. 4 shows the nucleotide sequences (HAPBU13R and HSBBU76R) of two cDNA molecules which are related to the nucleotide sequence shown in FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NOJ).
  • FIG. 5 A is a bar graph showing that overexpression of DR5 induced apoptosis in MCF7 human breast carcinoma cells.
  • FIG. 5B is a bar graph showing that overexpression of DR5 induced apoptosis in human epitheloid carcinoma (HeLa) cells.
  • FIG. 5C is a bar graph showing that DR5-induced apoptosis was blocked by caspase inhibitors, CrmA and z-VAD-fmk, but dominant negative
  • FIG. 5D is an immunoblot showing that, like DR4, DR5 did not interact with FADD and TRADD in vivo.
  • FIG. 5E is a bar graph showing that a dominant negative version of a newly identified FLICE-like molecule, FLICE2 (Vincenz, C. et al, J. Biol. Chem. 272:6578 (1997)), efficiently blocked DR5-induced apoptosis, while dominant negative FLICE had only partial effect under conditions it blocked. It also shows that TNFR- 1 blocked apoptosis effectively.
  • FIG. 6A is an immunoblot showing that DR5-Fc (as well as DR4 and TRED) specifically bound TRAIL, but not the related cytotoxic ligand TNF ⁇ .
  • the bottom panel of FIG. 6A shows the input Fc-fusions present in the binding assays.
  • FIG. 6B is a bar graph showing that DR5-Fc blocked the ability of TRAIL to induce apoptosis.
  • FIG. 6C is a bar graph showing that DR5-Fc had no effect on apoptosis TNF -induced cell death under conditions where TNFR-1-Fc completely abolished TNF ⁇ killing.
  • the present invention provides isolated nucleic acid molecules comprising, or alternatively consisting of, a polynucleotide encoding a DR5 polypeptide having the amino acid sequence shown in FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NO: 2), or a fragment of this polypeptide.
  • the DR5 polypeptide of the present invention shares sequence homology with other known death domain containing receptors of the TNFR family including human TNFR- 1 , DR3 and Fas (FIG. 2).
  • the nucleotide sequence shown in FIG. 1 (SEQ ED NO:l) was obtained by sequencing cDNA clones such as HLYBX88, which was deposited on March 7, 1997 at the American Type
  • nucleotide sequences determined by sequencing a DNA molecule herein were determined using an automated DNA sequencer (such as the Model 373 from Applied Biosystems, Inc.), and all amino acid sequences of polypeptides encoded by DNA molecules determined herein were predicted by translation of a DNA sequence determined as above. Therefore, as is known in the art for any DNA sequence determined by this automated approach, any nucleotide sequence determined herein may contain some errors. Nucleotide sequences determined by automation are typically at least about 90% identical, more typically at least about 95% to at least about 99.9% identical to the actual nucleotide sequence of the sequenced DNA molecule. The actual sequence can be more precisely determined by other approaches including manual DNA sequencing methods well known in the art.
  • a single insertion or deletion in a determined nucleotide sequence compared to the actual sequence will cause a frame shift in translation of the nucleotide sequence such that the predicted amino acid sequence encoded by a determined nucleotide sequence will be completely different from the amino acid sequence actually encoded by the sequenced DNA molecule, beginning at the point of such an insertion or deletion.
  • a nucleic acid molecule of the present invention encoding a DR5 polypeptide may be obtained using standard cloning and screening procedures, such as those for cloning cDNAs using mRNA as starting material.
  • the nucleic acid molecule of the invention has been identified in cDNA libraries of the following tissues: primary dendritic cells, endothelial tissue, spleen, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and human thymus stromal cells.
  • the determined nucleotide sequence of the DR5 cDNA of SEQ ID NO: 1 contains an open reading frame encoding a protein of about 411 amino acid residues whose initiation codon is at position 130-132 of the nucleotide sequence shown in FIG. 1 (SEQ ED NO.1 ), with a leader sequence of about 51 amino acid residues.
  • the DR5 polypeptide of the invention shares the greatest degree of homology with human TNFR-1, FAS and DR3 polypeptides shown in FIG. 2, including significant sequence homology over multiple cysteine-rich domains.
  • the homology DR5 shows to other death domain containing receptors strongly indicates that DR5 is also a death domain containing receptor with the ability to induce apoptosis.
  • DR5 has also now been shown to bind TRAEL.
  • the present invention also provides the mature form(s) of the DR5 protein of the present invention.
  • proteins secreted by mammalian cells have a signal or secretory leader sequence which is cleaved from the mature protein once export of the growing protein chain across the rough endoplasmic reticulum has been initiated.
  • Most mammalian cells and even insect cells cleave secreted proteins with the same specificity.
  • cleavage of a secreted protein is not entirely uniform, which results in two or more mature species on the protein.
  • the cleavage specificity of a secreted protein is ultimately determined by the primary structure of the complete protein, that is, it is inherent in the amino acid sequence of the polypeptide.
  • the present invention provides a nucleotide sequence encoding the mature DR5 polypeptide having the amino acid sequence encoded by the cDNA contained in the plasmid identified as ATCC Deposit No. 97920, and as shown in FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NO:2).
  • the mature DR5 protein having the amino acid sequence encoded by the cDNA contained in the plasmid identified as ATCC Deposit No. 97920 is meant the mature form(s) of the DR5 protein produced by expression in a mammalian cell (e.g., COS cells, as described below) of the complete open reading frame encoded by the human cDNA contained in the deposited plasmid.
  • the mature DR5 having the amino acid sequence encoded by the cDNA contained in ATCC Deposit No. 97920 may or may not differ from the predicted "mature" DR5 protein shown in SEQ ID NO:2 (amino acids from about 1 to about 360) depending on the accuracy of the predicted cleavage site based on computer analysis.
  • PSORT See, K. Nakai and M. Kanehisa, Genomics 74:897-911 (1992).
  • PSORT is an expert system for predicting the cellular location of a protein based on the amino acid sequence. As part of this computational prediction of localization, the methods of McGeoch and von Heinje are incorporated. The analysis by the PSORT program predicted the cleavage sites between amino acids
  • the leader sequence for the DR5 protein is predicted to consist of amino acid residues from about 1 to about 51, underlined in FIG. 1 (corresponding to amino acid residues about -51 to about 1 in SEQ ID NO: 2), while the predicted mature DR5 protein consists of residues from about 52 to about 41 1 in FIG. 1 (corresponding to amino acid residues about 1 to about 360 in SEQ ED NO:2).
  • the predicted DR5 receptor polypeptide encoded by the deposited cDNA comprises about 411 amino acids, but may be anywhere in the range of 401-421 amino acids; and the predicted leader sequence of this protein is about 51 amino acids, but may be anywhere in the range of about 41 to about 61 amino acids.
  • the domains described herein have been predicted by computer analysis, and accordingly, that depending on the analytical criteriaused for identifying various functional domains, the exact "address" of, for example, the extracelluar domain, intracellular domain, death domain, cysteine- rich motifs, and transmembrane domain of DR5 may differ slightly.
  • the exact location of the DR5 extracellular domain in FIG. 1 may vary slightly (e.g., the address may "shift" by about 1 to about 20 residues, more likely about 1 to about 5 residues) depending on the criteria used to define the domain.
  • the invention further provides polypeptides having various residues deleted from the N-terminus and/or C-terminus of the complete DR5, including polypeptides lacking one or more amino acids from the N-termini of the extracellular domain described herein, which constitute soluble forms of the extracellular domain of the DR5 polypeptides.
  • nucleic acid molecules of the present invention may be in the form of RNA, such as mRNA, or in the form of DNA, including, for instance, cDNA and genomic DNA obtained by cloning or produced synthetically.
  • the DNA may be double-stranded or single-stranded.
  • Single-stranded DNA may be the coding strand, also known as the sense strand, or it may be the non-coding strand, also referred to as the anti-sense strand.
  • isolated nucleic acid molecule(s) is intended a nucleic acid molecule, DNA or RNA, which has been removed from its native environment
  • recombinant DNA molecules contained in a vector are considered isolated for the purposes of the present invention.
  • Further examples of isolated DNA molecules include recombinant DNA molecules maintained in heterologous host cells or purified (partially or substantially) DNA molecules in solution.
  • Isolated RNA molecules include in vivo or in vitro RNA transcripts of the DNA molecules of the present invention.
  • Isolated nucleic acid molecules according to the present invention further include such molecules produced synthetically.
  • Isolated nucleic acid molecules of the present invention include DR5 DNA molecules comprising, or alternatively consisting of, an open reading frame (ORF) shown in SEQ ED NOJ; DNA molecules comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the coding sequence for the mature DR5 protein; and DNA molecules which comprise, or alternatively consist of, a sequence substantially different from those described above, but which, due to the degeneracy of the genetic code, still encode the DR5 protein.
  • ORF open reading frame
  • the invention provides nucleic acid molecules having nucleotide sequences related to extensive portions of SEQ ED NOJ which have been determined from the following related cDNAs: HAPBU13R(SEQ ED NO: 6) and HSBBU76R (SEQ ID NO.7).
  • the nucleotide sequences of HAPBU13R and HSBBU76R are shown in FIG. 4.
  • the nucleotide sequence of an additional related polynucleotide which has been assigned GenBank Accession number Z66083 is shown in SEQ ID NO: 14.
  • the invention provides isolated nucleic acid molecules encoding the DR5 polypeptide having an amino acid sequence encoded by the cDNA contained in the plasmid deposited as ATCC Deposit No. 97920 on March
  • nucleic acid molecules are provided that encode the mature DR5 polypeptide or the full length DR5 polypeptide lacking the
  • the invention further provides an isolated nucleic acid molecule having the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ED NOJ or the nucleotide sequence of the DR5 cDNA contained in the above-described deposited plasmid, or a nucleic acid molecule having a sequence complementary to one of the above sequences.
  • isolated molecules particularly DNA molecules, have uses which include, but are not limited to, as probes for gene mapping by in situ hybridization with chromosomes, and for detecting expression of the DR5 gene in human tissue, for instance, by Northern blot analysis.
  • the present invention is further directed to fragments of the isolated nucleic acid molecules described herein.
  • fragments of an isolated DNA molecule having the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 1 or having the nucleotide sequence of the deposited cDNA (the cDNA contained in the plasmid deposited as ATCC Deposit No.
  • DNA fragments at least 20 nt, and more preferably at least 30 nt in length, and even more preferably, at least about 40, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400, 450, 500, 550, 600, 650, 700, 750, 800, 850, 900, 950, 1000, 1050, 1 100, 1150, or 1200 nucleotides in length, which are useful as DNA probes as discussed above.
  • DNA fragments corresponding to most, if not all, of the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID
  • fragments at least about 20 nt in length are also useful as DNA probes.
  • fragments at least about 20 nt in length for example, is intended fragments which include 20 or more contiguous bases from the nucleotide sequence of the deposited DNA or the nucleotide sequence as shown in SEQ ID NOJ .
  • “about” includes the particularly recited size, larger or smaller by several (5, 4, 3, 2, or 1) nucleotides, at either terminus or at both termini.
  • DR5 polynucleotide fragments of the invention include, for example, fragments that comprise, or alternatively consist of, a sequence from about nucleotide 1-130, 130-180, 181-231, 232-282, 283-333,
  • the present invention is further directed to polynucleotides comprising, or alternatively consisting of, isolated nucleic acid molecules which encode domains of DR5.
  • the invention provides polynucleotides comprising, or alternatively consisting of, nucleic acid molecules which encode beta-sheet regions of DR5 protein set out in Table I.
  • polynucleotides include nucleic acid molecules which encode a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, one, two, three, four, five, or more amino acid sequences selected from the group consisting of: amino acid residues from about -16 to about -2, amino acid residues from about 2 to about 9, amino acid residues from about 60 to about 67, amino acid residues from about 135 to about 151, amino acid residues from about 193 to about 199, and amino acid residues from about 302 to about 310 in SEQ ID NO:2.
  • “about” includes the particularly recited value and values larger or smaller by several (5, 4, 3, 2, or 1) amino acid residues.
  • Polypeptides encoded by these polynucleotides are also encompassed by the invention.
  • the polynucleotide fragments of the invention encode a polypeptide which demonstrates a DR5 functional activity.
  • a polypeptide demonstrating a DR5 "functional activity” is meant, a polypeptide capable of displaying one or more known functional activities associated with a complete (full-length) or mature DR5 polypeptide, as well as secreted forms of DR5.
  • Such functional activities include, but are not limited to, biological activity (e g-, ability to induce apoptosis in cells expressing the polypeptide (see e.g.,
  • Example 5 antigenicity (ability to bind (or compete with a DR5 polypeptide for binding) to an anti-DR5 antibody), immunogenicity (ability to generate antibody which binds to a DR5 polypeptide), ability to form multimers, and ability to bind to a receptor or ligand for a DR5 polypeptide (e.g. , TRAEL; Wiley et al, Immunity 3, 673-682 (1995)).
  • TRAEL Wiley et al, Immunity 3, 673-682 (1995)
  • DR5 polypeptides and fragments, variants derivatives, and analogs thereof, can be assayed by various methods.
  • various immunoassays known in the art can be used, including but not limited to, competitive and non-competitive assay systems using techniques such as radioimmunoassays, ELISA (enzyme linked immunosorbent assay), "sandwich” immunoassays, immunoradiometric assays, gel diffusion precipitation reactions, immunodiffusion assays, in situ immunoassays (using colloidal gold, enzyme or radioisotope labels, for example), western blots, precipitation reactions, agglutination assays (e.g., gel agglutination assays, hemagglutination assays), complement fixation assays, immunofluorescence assays, protein A assays, and immunoelectrophoresis assays, etc.
  • competitive and non-competitive assay systems using techniques such as radioimmunoassays, ELISA (enzyme linked immunosorbent assay), "sandwich” immunoassays, immunoradiometric
  • antibody binding is detected by detecting a label on the primary antibody.
  • the primary antibody is detected by detecting binding of a secondary antibody or reagent to the primary antibody.
  • the secondary antibody is labeled. Many means are known in the art for detecting binding in an immunoassay and are within the scope of the present invention.
  • binding can be assayed, e.g. , by means well-known in the art, such as, for example, reducing and non-reducing gel chromatography, protein affinity chromatography, and affinity blotting. See generally, Phizicky, et al., Microbiol. Rev. 59:94-123 (1995).
  • physiological correlates of DR5 binding to its substrates can be assayed.
  • DR5 polypeptides and fragments, variants derivatives and analogs thereof may routinely be applied to measure the ability of DR5 polypeptides and fragments, variants derivatives and analogs thereof to elicit DR5 related biological activity (e.g., ability to induce apoptosis in cells expressing the polypeptide (see e.g., Example 5), and the ability to bind a ligand, e.g., TRAIL
  • biological activity can routinely be measured using the cell death assays performed essentially as previously described (Chinnaiyan et a , Cell 81 :505-512 (1995); Boldin et al. , J. Biol. Chem. 270:7795-8(1995); Kischkel e al, EMBO 74:5579-5588 (1995); Chinnaiyan et al, J. Biol. Chem. 271 :4961-4965 (1996)) and as set forth in
  • plasmids encoding full-length DR5 or a candidate death domain containing receptor are co- transfected with the pLantern reporter construct encoding green fluorescent protein. Nuclei of cells transfected with DR5 will exhibit apoptotic morphology as assessed by DAPI staining.
  • Preferred nucleic acid fragments of the present invention include, but are not limited to, a nucleic acid molecule encoding a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, one, two, three, four, five, or more amino acid sequences selected from the group consisting of: a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the DR5 extracellular domain (amino acid residues from about 52 to about 184 in FIG. 1 (amino acid residues from about 1 to about 133 in SEQ ID NO:2)); a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the DR5 transmembrane domain (amino acid residues from about 185 to about 208 in FIG.
  • amino acid residues from about 134 to about 157 in SEQ ED NO:2 amino acid residues from about 134 to about 157 in SEQ ED NO:2
  • a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the cysteine rich domain of DR5 amino acid residues from about 84 to about 179 in FIG. 1 (from about 33 to about 128 in SEQ ID NO:2)
  • a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the DR5 intracellular domain amino acid residues from about 209 to about 411 in FIG.
  • polypeptide 1 (from about 273 to about 340 in SEQ ED NO:2)); and a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, one, two, three, four or more, epitope bearing portions of the DR5 receptor protein.
  • the polynucleotide fragments of the invention encode a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, any combination of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, or all 8 of the above members. Since the location of these domains have been predicted by computer graphics, one of ordinary skill would appreciate that the amino acid residues constituting these domains may vary slightly (e.g. , by about 1 to 15 residues) depending on the criteria used to define each domain. Polypeptides encoded by these nucleic acid molecules are also encompassed by the invention.
  • polynucleotides encoding a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, one or both amino acid sequences selected from the group consisting of: amino acid residues 84 to 131, and/or 132 to 179 of the DR5 sequence shown in FIG. 1 (amino acid residues 33 to 80, and/or 81 to 128 in SEQ ED NO:2).
  • polynucleotides encoding DR5 polypeptides of the invention comprise, or alternatively consist of, both of the extracellular cysteine-rich motifs disclosed in FIG. 1.
  • polynucleotides of the invention comprise, or alternatively consist of, a polynucleotide sequence at least 80%, 85%, 90%, 92%,
  • the present invention also encompasses the above polynucleotide sequences fused to a heterologous polynucleotide sequence. Polypeptides encoded by these polynucleotides are also encompassed by the invention. Methods to measure the percent identity of a polynucleotide sequence to a reference polynucleotide sequence are described infra.
  • the invention provides an isolated nucleic acid molecule comprising, or alternatively consisting of, a polynucleotide which hybridizes under stringent hybridization conditions to nucleic acids complementary to the cysteine-rich domain encoding polynucleotides described above.
  • stringent conditions as used herein is described infra.
  • Polypeptides encoded by such polynucleotides are also contemplated by the invention.
  • Preferred nucleic acid fragments of the invention encode a full-length DR5 polypeptide lacking the nucleotides encoding the amino-terminal methionine (nucleotides 130-132 in SEQ ED NOJ) as it is known that the methionine is cleaved naturally and such sequences maybe useful in genetically engineering DR5 expression vectors.
  • Polypeptides encoded by such polynucleotides are also contemplated by the invention.
  • the polynucleotides of the invention encode functional attributes of DR5.
  • Preferred embodiments of the invention in this regard include fragments that comprise, or alternatively consist of, one, two, three, four, or more of the following functional domains: alpha- helix and alpha-helix forming regions ("alpha-regions"), beta-sheet and beta-sheet forming regions ("beta-regions"), turn and turn-forming regions ("turn-regions”), coil and coil-forming regions ("coil-regions”), hydrophilic regions, hydrophobic regions, alpha-amphipathic regions, beta-amphipathic regions, flexible regions, surface-forming regions and high antigenic index regions of DR5.
  • the data presented in columns VIII, IX, XIII, and XIV of Table I can be used to determine regions of DR5 which exhibit a high degree of potential for antigenicity. Regions of high antigenicity are determined from the data presented in columns VIII, IX, XIII, and/or XIV by choosing values which represent regions of the polypeptide which are likely to be exposed on the surface of the polypeptide in an environment in which antigen recognition may occur in the process of initiation of an immune response. Certain preferred regions in these regards are set out in FIG.
  • FIG. 3 may, as shown in Table I, be represented or identified by using tabular representations of the data presented in FIG. 3.
  • the DNA* STAR computer algorithm used to generate FIG. 3 (set on the original default parameters) was used to present the data in FIG. 3 in a tabular format (See Table I).
  • the tabular format of the data in FIG. 3 may be used to easily determine specific boundaries of a preferred region.
  • such preferred regions include Garnier-Robson alpha-regions, beta-regions, turn-regions, and coil-regions (columns I, III, V, and VII in Table
  • Val 179 A A 0.80 -0.60 * 0.60 0 74
  • Trp 208 A A -0.24 0.31 -0.30 0 49
  • Lys 209 A A -0.50 0.61 -0.60 0 49
  • Lys 331 A A -0.53 0.10 * -0.30 0 60
  • Lys 340 A A 0.67 -0.77 . F 0.75 0 83
  • Val 341 A A 0.67 -0.67 . 0.60 0 49
  • Lys 343 A A -0.51 -0.86 . 0.60 0 61
  • Val 370 A A -0.10 0.20 * -0.30 0.37
  • Leu 402 A A 0.26 0.67 -0.60 0 81
  • nucleic acid fragments of the present invention further include nucleic acid molecules encoding a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, one, two, three, four, five, or more epitope-bearing portions of the DR5 protein.
  • nucleic acid fragments of the present invention include, but are not limited to, nucleic acid molecules encoding a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, one, two, three, or more amino acid sequences selected from the group consisting of: amino acid residues from about 62 to about 110 in FIG.
  • amino acid residues from about 11 to about 59 in SEQ ED NO: 2 a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, amino acid residues from about 119 to about 164 in FIG. 1 (amino acid residues from about 68 to about 113 in SEQ ID NO:2); a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, amino acid residues from about 224 to about 271 in FIG. 1 (amino acid residues from about 173 to about 220 in SEQ ID NO:2); and a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, amino acid residues from about 275 to about 370 in FIG. 1 (amino acid residues from about 224 to about 319 in SEQ ID NO:2).
  • the inventors have determined that the above polypeptide fragments are antigenic regions of the DR5 protein. Methods for determining other such epitope-bearing portions of the DR5 protein are described in detail below. In this context "about” includes the particularly recited value and values larger or smaller by several (5, 4, 3, 2, or 1) amino acid residues. Polypeptides encoded by these nucleic acids are also encompassed by the invention. Further, the invention includes a polynucleotide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, any portion of at least about 30 nucleotides, preferably at least about 50 nucleotides, of SEQ ED NOJ from residue 283 to 1 ,362, preferably from 283 to 681.
  • polypeptides encoded by these polynucleotides are also encompassed by the invention.
  • the polynucleotides of the invention are less than 100000 kb, 50000 kb, 10000 kb, 1000 kb, 500 kb, 400 kb, 350 kb, 300 kb, 250 kb, 200 kb, 175 kb, 150 kb, 125 kb, 100 kb, 75 kb, 50 kb, 40 kb, 30 kb, 25 kb, 20 kb, 15 kb, 10 kb, 7.5 kb, or 5 kb in length.
  • polynucleotides of the invention comprise, or alternatively consisting of, at least 15, at least 30, at least 50, at least 100, or at least 250, at least 500, or at least 1000 contiguous nucleotides of DR5 coding sequence, but consist of less than or equal to 1000 kb, 500 kb, 250 kb, 200 kb, 150 kb, 100 kb, 75 kb, 50 kb, 30 kb, 25 kb, 20 kb, 15 kb, 10 kb, or 5 kb of genomic DNA that flanks the 5 ' or 3' coding nucleotide set forth in FIG. 1 (SEQ
  • polynucleotides of the invention comprise, or alternatively consist of, at least 15, at least 30, at least 50, at least 100, or at least 250, at least 500, or at least 1000 contiguous nucleotides of DR5 coding sequence, but do not comprise, or alternatively consist of, all or a portion of any DR5 intron.
  • the nucleic acid comprising, or alternatively consisting of, DR5 coding sequence does not contain coding sequences of a genomic flanking gene (i.e., 5' or 3' to the DR5 gene in the genome).
  • the polynucleotides of the invention do not contain the coding sequence of more than 1000, 500, 250, 100, 50, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5, 4, 3, 2, or 1 genomic flanking gene(s).
  • the invention provides an isolated nucleic acid molecule comprising, or alternatively consisting of, a polynucleotide which hybridizes under stringent hybridization conditions to a portion of the polynucleotide in a nucleic acid molecule of the invention described above, for instance, the sequence complementary to the coding and/or noncoding (i.e., transcribed, untranslated) sequence depicted in SEQ ED NOJ, the cDNA contained in ATCC Deposit No. 97920, and the sequence encoding a DR5 domain, or a polynucleotide fragment as described herein.
  • a polynucleotide which hybridizes under stringent hybridization conditions to a portion of the polynucleotide in a nucleic acid molecule of the invention described above, for instance, the sequence complementary to the coding and/or noncoding (i.e., transcribed, untranslated) sequence depicted in SEQ ED NOJ, the cDNA contained in ATCC Deposit No.
  • stringent hybridization conditions is intended overnight incubation at 42° C in a solution comprising, or alternatively consisting of: 50%> formamide, 5x SSC (750 mM NaCl, 75mM trisodium citrate), 50 mM sodium phosphate (pH 7.6), 5x Denhardt's solution, 10%> dextran sulfate, and 20 ⁇ g/ml denatured, sheared salmon sperm DNA, followed by washing the filters in 0. lx SSC at about 65 °C.
  • Polypeptides encoded by these polynucleotides are also encompassed by the invention.
  • a polynucleotide which hybridizes to a "portion" of a polynucleotide is intended a polynucleotide (either DNA or RNA) hybridizing to at least about 15 nucleotides (nt), and more preferably at least about 20 nt, still more preferably at least about 30 nt, and even more preferably about 30-70 or 80-150 nt, or the entire length of the reference polynucleotide.
  • “about” includes the particularly recited size, larger or smaller by several (5, 4, 3, 2, or 1) nucleotides, at either terminus or at both termini. These have uses, which include, but are not limited to, as diagnostic probes and primers as discussed above and in more detail below.
  • a polynucleotide which hybridizes only to a poly A sequence such as the 3' terminal poly(A) tract of the DR5 cDNA shown in FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NOJ)
  • a complementary stretch of T (or U) resides would not be included in a polynucleotide of the invention used to hybridize to a portion of a nucleic acid of the invention, since such a polynucleotide would hybridize to any nucleic acid molecule containing a poly (A) stretch or the complement thereof (e.g., practically any double-stranded cDNA generated from an oligo-dT primed cDNA library).
  • nucleic acid molecules of the present invention which encode a DR5 polypeptide may include, but are not limited to, the coding sequence for the mature polypeptide, by itself; the coding sequence for the mature polypeptide and additional sequences, such as those encoding a leader or secretory sequence, such as a pre-, pro- or prepro- protein sequence; the coding sequence of the mature polypeptide, with or without the aforementioned additional coding sequences, together with additional, non-coding sequences, including for example, but not limited to introns and non-coding 5' and 3' sequences, such as the transcribed, non-translated sequences that play a role in transcription, mRNA processing - including splicing and polyadenylation signals, for example - ribosome binding and stability of mRNA; additional coding sequence which codes for additional amino acids, such as those which provide additional functionalities.
  • the polypeptide may be fused to a marker sequence, such as a peptide, which facilitates purification of the fused polypeptide.
  • the marker sequence is a hexa-histidine peptide, such as the tag provided in a pQE vector (Qiagen, Inc.), among others, many of which are commercially available.
  • hexa-histidine provides for convenient purification of the fusion protein.
  • the "HA” tag is another peptide useful for purification which corresponds to an epitope derived from the influenza hemagglutinin protein, which has been described by Wilson et al, Cell 37:161 -778(1984).
  • other such fusion proteins include the DR5 receptor fused to Fc at the N- or C- terminus.
  • the present invention further relates to variants of the nucleic acid molecules of the present invention, which encode portions, analogs, or derivatives of the DR5 receptor. Variants may occur naturally, such as a natural allelic variant.
  • an "allelic variant” is intended one of several alternate forms of a gene occupying a given locus on a chromosome of an organism. Genes II, Lewin, B., ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York (1985). Non-naturally occurring variants may be produced using art-known mutagenesis techniques.
  • variants include those produced by nucleotide substitutions, deletions or additions which may involve one or more nucleotides.
  • the variants may be altered in coding or non-coding regions or both. Alterations in the coding regions may produce conservative or non-conservative amino acid substitutions, deletions or additions. Especially preferred among these are silent substitutions, additions, and deletions, which do not alter the properties and activities of the DR5 receptor or portions thereof. Also especially preferred in this regard are conservative substitutions.
  • nucleic acid molecules that are at least 80%> identical, and more preferably at least 85%>, 90%>, 92%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99% identical, to (a) a nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the amino acid sequence in SEQ ID NO:2; (b) a nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the amino acid sequence in SEQ ID NO:2, but lacking the amino terminal methionine; (c) a nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the amino acid sequence at positions from about 1 to about 360 in SEQ ED NO:2; (d) a nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the amino acid sequence encoded by the cDNA contained in ATCC
  • nucleotide sequence encoding the mature DR5 polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the amino acid sequence encoded by the cDNA contained in ATCC Deposit No. 97920;
  • nucleotide sequence that encodes the DR5 extracellular domain comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the amino acid sequence at positions from about 1 to about 133 in
  • SEQ ID NO :2 or the DR5 extracellular domain encoded by the cDNA contained in ATCC Deposit No. 97920;
  • a nucleotide sequence that encodes the DR5 cysteine rich domain comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the amino acid sequence at positions from about 33 to about 128 in SEQ ED NO:2, or the DR5 cysteine rich domain encoded by the cDNA contained in ATCC Deposit No.
  • a nucleotide sequence that encodes the DR5 transmembrane domain comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the amino acid sequence at positions from about 134 to about 157 of SEQ ED NO:2, or the DR5 transmembrane domain encoded by the cDNA contained in ATCC Deposit No. 97920;
  • a nucleotide sequence that encodes the DR5 intracellular domain comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the amino acid sequence at positions from about 158 to about 360 of SEQ ID NO:2, or the DR5 intracellular domain encoded by the cDNA contained in ATCC Deposit No.
  • nucleotide sequence that encodes the DR5 receptor extracellular and intracellular domains with all or part of the transmembrane domain deleted a nucleotide sequence that encodes the DR5 death domain comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the amino acid sequence at positions from about 273 to about 340 of SEQ ID NO:2, or the DR5 death domain encoded by the cDNA contained in ATCC Deposit No.
  • Polypeptides encoded by these polynucleotides are also encompassed by the invention.
  • nucleotide having a nucleotide sequence at least, for example, 95% ⁇ "identical" to a reference nucleotide sequence encoding a DR5 polypeptide is intended that the nucleotide sequence of the polynucleotide is identical to the reference sequence except that the polynucleotide sequence may include up to five mismatches per each 100 nucleotides of the reference nucleotide sequence encoding the DR5 polypeptide.
  • a polynucleotide having a nucleotide sequence at least 95% identical to a reference nucleotide sequence up to 5%> of the nucleotides in the reference sequence may be deleted or substituted with another nucleotide, or a number of nucleotides up to 5% of the total nucleotides in the reference sequence may be inserted into the reference sequence.
  • the reference (query) sequence may be the entire DR5 nucleotide sequence shown in FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NO: 1) or any polynucleotide fragment (e.g. , a polynucleotide encoding the amino acid sequence of a DR5 N and/or C terminal deletion described herein) as described herein.
  • nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 1 or to the nucleotide sequence of the deposited cDNA can be determined conventionally using known computer programs such as the Bestfit program (Wisconsin Sequence Analysis Package, Version 8 for Unix, Genetics Computer Group, University Research Park, 575 Science Drive, Madison, WI 53711). Bestfit uses the local homology algorithm of Smith and Waterman, Advances in AppliedMathematics 2:482-489
  • the parameters are set, of course, such that the percentage of identity is calculated over the full length of the reference nucleotide sequence and that gaps in homology of up to 5% of the total number of nucleotides in the reference sequence are allowed.
  • the identity between a reference (query) sequence (a sequence of the present invention) and a subject sequence is determined using the FASTDB computer program based on the algorithm of Brutlag et al. (Comp. App. Biosci. 6:237-245 (1990)).
  • the percent identity is corrected by calculating the number of bases of the query sequence that are 5' and 3' of the subject sequence, which are not matched/aligned, as a percent of the total bases of the query sequence. A determination of whether a nucleotide is matched/aligned is determined by results of the FASTDB sequence alignment. This percentage is then subtracted from the percent identity, calculated by the above FASTDB program using the specified parameters, to arrive at a final percent identity score. This corrected score is what is used for the purposes of this embodiment. Only bases outside the 5' and 3' bases of the subject sequence, as displayed by the
  • FASTDB alignment which are not matched/aligned with the query sequence, are calculated for the purposes of manually adjusting the percent identity score. For example, a 90 base subject sequence is aligned to a 100 base query sequence to determine percent identity. The deletions occur at the 5' end of the subject sequence and therefore, the FASTDB alignment does not show a matched/alignment of the first 10 bases at 5' end. The 10 unpaired bases represent 10% of the sequence (number of bases at the 5' and 3' ends not matched/total number of bases in the query sequence) so 10% is subtracted from the percent identity score calculated by the FASTDB program. If the remaining 90 bases were perfectly matched the final percent identity would be 90%.
  • a 90 base subject sequence is compared with a 100 base query sequence. This time the deletions are internal deletions so that there are no bases on the 5' or 3' of the subject sequence which are not matched/aligned with the query. In this case the percent identity calculated by FASTDB is not manually corrected. Once again, only bases 5' and 3' of the subject sequence which are not matched/aligned with the query sequence are manually corrected for. No other manual corrections are made for the purposes of this embodiment.
  • the present application is directed to nucleic acid molecules at least 80%>, 85%, 90%, 92%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99% identical to the nucleic acid sequence shown in SEQ ED NOJ, the nucleic acid sequence of the deposited cDNAs, or fragments thereof, irrespective of whether they encode a polypeptide having DR5 functional activity. This is because even where a particular nucleic acid molecule does not encode a polypeptide having DR5 functional activity, one of skill in the art would still know how to use the nucleic acid molecule, for instance, as a hybridization probe or a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primer.
  • PCR polymerase chain reaction
  • nucleic acid molecules of the present invention that do not encode a polypeptide having DR5 functional activity include, inter alia: (1) isolating the DR5 gene or allelic variants thereof in a cDNA library; (2) in situ hybridization (e.g., "FISH") to metaphase chromosomal spreads to provide precise chromosomal location of the DR5 gene, as described in Verma et al, Human
  • Chromosomes A Manual of Basic Techniques, Pergamon Press, New York (1988); and (3) Northern Blot analysis for detecting DR5 mRNA expression in specific tissues.
  • nucleic acid molecules having sequences at least 80%, 85%, 90%, 92%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99% identical to the nucleic acid sequence shown in SEQ ED NOJ, the nucleic acid sequence of the deposited cDNAs, or fragments thereof, which do, in fact, encode a polypeptide having DR5 protein functional activity.
  • a polypeptide having DR5 functional activity is intended polypeptides exhibiting activity similar, but not necessarily identical, to a functional activity of the DR5 protein of the invention (either the full-length (i.e., complete) protein or, preferably, the mature protein), as measured in a particular biological assay.
  • DR5 polypeptide functional activity can be measured by the ability of a polypeptide sequence described herein to form multimers (e.g., homodimers and homotrimers) with complete DR5, and to bind a DR5 ligand (e.g., TRAEL).
  • DR5 polypeptide functional activity can be also be measured, for example, by determining the ability of a polypeptide of the invention to induce apoptosis in cells expressing the polypeptide.
  • DR5 protein functional activity e.g. , biological activity
  • plasmids encoding full-length DR5 or a candidate death domain containing receptor are co-transfected with the pLantern reporter construct encoding green fluorescent protein Nuclei of cells transfected with DR5 will exhibit apoptotic morphology as assessed by DAPI staining Similar to TNFR-1 and Fas/APO-1 (M Muzio, etal, Cell 85 817-827 (1996), M P Boldin, et al, Cell 85 803-815 (1996), M Tewari, et al, JBiol
  • DR5-induced apoptosis is preferably blocked by the inhibitors of ICE-like proteases, CrmA and z-VAD-fink
  • nucleic acid molecules having a sequence at least 80%, 85%, 90%, 92%, 95%, 96%, 97%,
  • nucleic acid sequence of the deposited cDNA will encode a polypeptide "having DR5 protein functional activity.”
  • degenerate variants of these nucleotide sequences all encode the same polypeptide, in many instances, this will be clear to the skilled artisan even without performing the above described comparison assay It will be further recognized in the art that, for such nucleic acid molecules that are not degenerate variants, a reasonable number will also encode a polypeptide having DR5 protein functional activity This is because the skilled artisan is fully aware of amino acid substitutions that are either less likely or not likely to significantly effect protein function (e.g., replacing one aliphatic amino acid with a second aliphatic amino acid), as further described below
  • This invention is also related to the use of the DR5 polynucleotides to detect complementary polynucleotides such as, for example, as a diagnostic reagent. Detection of a mutated form of DR5 associated with a dysfunction will provide a diagnostic tool that can add or define a diagnosis of a disease or susceptibility to a disease which results fromunder-expression, over-expression, or altered expression of DR5 or a soluble form thereof, such as, for example, tumors or autoimmune disease. Individuals carrying mutations in the DR5 gene may be detected at the
  • Nucleic acids for diagnosis may be obtained from a patient's cells, such as from blood, urine, saliva, tissue biopsy and autopsy material.
  • the genomic DNA may be used directly for detection or may be amplified enzymatically by using PCR prior to analysis. (Saiki et al, Nature 324: 163-166 (1986)).
  • RNA or cDNA may also be used in the same ways.
  • PCR primers complementary to the nucleic acid encoding DR5 can be used to identify and analyze DR5 expression and mutations. For example, deletions and insertions can be detected by a change in size of the amplified product in comparison to the normal genotype.
  • Point mutations can be identified by hybridizing amplified DNA to radiolabeled DR5 RNA or alternatively, radiolabeled DR5 antisense DNA sequences. Perfectly matched sequences can be distinguished from mismatched duplexes by RNase A digestion or by differences in melting temperatures.
  • DNA segments may be employed as probes to detect specific DNA segments.
  • the sensitivity of such methods can be greatly enhanced by appropriate use of PCR or another amplification method.
  • a sequencing primer is used with double-stranded PCR product or a single-stranded template molecule generated by a modified PCR.
  • the sequence determination is performed by conventional procedures with radiolabeled nucleotide or by automatic sequencing procedures with fluorescent-tags.
  • DNA sequence differences may be achieved by detection of alteration in electrophoretic mobility of DNA fragments in gels, with or without denaturing agents. Small sequence deletions and insertions can be visualized by high resolution gel electrophoresis. DNA fragments of different sequences may be distinguished on denaturing formamide gradient gels in which the mobilities of different DNA fragments are retarded in the gel at different positions according to their specific melting or partial melting temperatures (see, e.g., Myers et al, Science 230: 1242 (1985)).
  • Sequence changes at specific locations also may be revealed by nuclease protection assays, such as RNase and SI protection or the chemical cleavage method (e.g., Cotton etal, Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 85: 4397-4401 (1985)).
  • nuclease protection assays such as RNase and SI protection or the chemical cleavage method (e.g., Cotton etal, Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 85: 4397-4401 (1985)).
  • the detection of a specific DNA sequence may be achieved by methods which include, but are not limited to, hybridization, RNase protection, chemical cleavage, direct DNA sequencing or the use of restriction enzymes, (e.g. , restriction fragment length polymorphisms ("RFLP”) and Southern blotting of genomic DNA).
  • RFLP restriction fragment length polymorphisms
  • mutations also can be detected by in situ analysis.
  • the present invention also relates to vectors which include DNA molecules of the present invention, host cells which are genetically engineered with vectors of the invention and the production of polypeptides of the invention by recombinant techniques.
  • Host cells can be genetically engineered to incorporate nucleic acid molecules and express polypeptides of the present invention.
  • the polynucleotides may be introduced alone or with other polynucleotides. Such other polynucleotides may be introduced independently, co-introduced or introduced joined to the polynucleotides of the invention.
  • the vector may be, for example, a plasmid vector, a single or double-stranded phage vector, a single or double-stranded RNA or DNA viral vector.
  • Such vectors may be introduced into cells as polynucleotides, preferably DNA, by well known techniques for introducing DNA and RNA into cells.
  • Viral vectors may be replication competent or replication defective. In the latter case viral propagation generally will occur only in complementing host cells.
  • Preferred among vectors, in certain respects, are those for expression of polynucleotides and polypeptides of the present invention.
  • such vectors comprise cw-acting control regions effective for expression in a host operatively linked to the polynucleotide to be expressed. Appropriate transacting factors either are supplied by the host, supplied by a complementing vector or supplied by the vector itself upon introduction into the host.
  • vectors can be used to express a polypeptide of the invention.
  • Such vectors include chromosomal, episomal and virus-derived vectors e.g., vectors derived from bacterial plasmids, from bacteriophage, from yeast episomes, from yeast chromosomal elements, from viruses such as baculoviruses, papova viruses, such as SV40, vaccinia viruses, adenoviruses, fowl pox viruses, pseudorabies viruses and retroviruses, and vectors derived from combinations thereof, such as those derived from plasmid and bacteriophage genetic elements, such as cosmids and phagemids, all may be used for expression in accordance with this aspect of the present invention.
  • any vector suitable to maintain, propagate or express polynucleotides to express a polypeptide in a host may be used for expression in this regard.
  • the DNA sequence in the expression vector is operatively linked to appropriate expression control sequence(s)), including, for instance, a promoter to direct mRNA transcription.
  • appropriate expression control sequence(s) including, for instance, a promoter to direct mRNA transcription.
  • promoters include the phage lambda PL promoter, the E. coli lac, trp and tac promoters, the SV40 early and late promoters and promoters of retroviral LTRs, to name just a few of the well-known promoters.
  • expression constructs will contain sites for transcription, initiation and termination, and, in the transcribed region, a ribosome binding site for translation.
  • the coding portion of the mature transcripts expressed by the constructs will include a translation initiating AUG at the beginning and a termination codon (UAA, UGA or UAG) appropriately positioned at the end of the polypeptide to be translated.
  • constructs may contain control regions that regulate as well as engender expression. Generally, such regions will operate by controlling transcription, such as repressor binding sites and enhancers, among others.
  • Vectors for propagation and expression generally will include selectable markers. Such markers also may be suitable for amplification or the vectors may contain additional markers for this purpose.
  • the expression vectors preferably contain one or more selectable marker genes to provide a phenotypic trait for selection of transformed host cells.
  • selectable marker genes include, but are not limited to, dihydrofolate reductase or neomycin resistance for eukaryotic cell culture, and tetracycline or ampicillin resistance genes for culturing E. coli and other bacteria.
  • the vector containing the appropriate DNA sequence as described elsewhere herein, as well as an appropriate promoter, and other appropriate control sequences, may be introduced into an appropriate host using a variety of well known techniques suitable to expression therein of a desired polypeptide.
  • appropriate hosts include bacterial cells, such as E. coli, Streptomyces and Salmonella typhimurium cells; fungal cells, such as yeast cells; insect cells such as Drosophila S2 and Spodoptera Sf9 cells; animal cells such as CHO, COS and Bowes melanoma cells; and plant cells.
  • Appropriate culture mediums and conditions for the above-described host cells are known in the art.
  • vectors preferred for use in bacteria are pQE70, pQE60 and pQE-9, available from Qiagen; pBS vectors, Phagescript vectors, Bluescript vectors, pNH8A, pNHl ⁇ a, pNH18A, pNH46A, available from Stratagene; and ptrc99a, pKK223-3, pKK233-3, pDR540, pRIT5 available from Pharmacia.
  • preferred eukaryotic vectors are pWLNEO, pSV2CAT, pOG44, pXTl and pSG available from Stratagene; and pSVK3, pBPV, pMSG and pSVL available from Pharmacia. These vectors are listed solely by way of illustration of the many commercially available and well known vectors available to those of skill in the art.
  • the present invention also relates to host cells containing the above- described vector constructs described herein, and additionally encompasses host cells containing nucleotide sequences of the invention that are operably associated with one or more heterologous control regions (e.g. , promoter and/or enhancer) using techniques known of in the art.
  • the host cell can be a higher eukaryotic cell, such as a mammalian cell (e.g., a human derived cell), or a lower eukaryotic cell, such as a yeast cell, or the host cell can be a prokaryotic cell, such as a bacterial cell.
  • the host strain may be chosen which modulates the expression of the inserted gene sequences, or modifies and processes the gene product in the specific fashion desired.
  • Expression from certain promoters can be elevated in the presence of certain inducers; thus expression of the genetically engineered polypeptide may be controlled.
  • different host cells have characteristics and specific mechanisms for the translational and post- translational processing and modification (e.g., phosphorylation, cleavage) of proteins. Appropriate cell lines can be chosen to ensure the desired modifications and processing of the foreign protein expressed.
  • Introduction of the construct into the host cell can be effected by calcium phosphate transfection, DEAE-dextran mediated transfection, cationic lipid- mediated transfection, electroporation, transduction, infection or other methods. Such methods are described in many standard laboratory manuals, such as Davis et al, Basic Methods in Molecular Biology (1986).
  • the invention also encompasses primary, secondary, and immortalized host cells of vertebrate origin, particularly mammalian origin, that have been engineered to delete or replace endogenous genetic material (e.g., DR5 coding sequence), and/or to include genetic material (e.g., heterologous polynucleotide sequences) that is operably associated with DR5 polynucleotides of the invention, and which activates, alters, and/or amplifies endogenous DR5 polynucleotides.
  • genetic material e.g., heterologous polynucleotide sequences
  • techniques known in the art may be used to operably associate heterologous control regions (e.g.
  • the polypeptide may be expressed in a modified form, such as a fusion protein (comprising the polypeptide joined via a peptide bond to a heterologous protein sequence (of a different protein)), and may include not only secretion signals but also additional heterologous functional regions.
  • a fusion protein can be made by ligating polynucleotides of the invention and the desired nucleic acid sequence encoding the desired amino acid sequence to each other, by methods known in the art, in the proper reading frame, and expressing the fusion protein product by methods known in the art.
  • a fusion protein can be made by protein synthetic techniques, e.g. , by use of a peptide synthesizer.
  • a region of additional amino acids, particularly charged amino acids may be added to the N-terminus of the polypeptide to improve stability and persistence in the host cell, during purification or during subsequent handling and storage.
  • region also may be added to the polypeptide to facilitate purification. Such regions may be removed prior to final preparation of the polypeptide.
  • polynucleotides encoding DR5 polypeptides of the invention may be fused to the pelB pectate lyase signal sequence to increase the efficiency to expression and purification of such polypeptides in Gram-negative bacteria. See, US Patent Nos. 5,576,195 and 5,846,818, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entireties.
  • such a fusion protein can be made by protein synthetic techniques, e.g., by use of a peptide synthesizer.
  • a region of additional amino acids, particularly charged amino acids may be added to the N- terminus of the polypeptide to improve stability and persistence in the host cell, during purification or during subsequent handling and storage.
  • a region also may be added to the polypeptide to facilitate purification. Such regions may be removed prior to final preparation of the polypeptide.
  • the addition of peptide moieties to polypeptides to engender secretion or excretion, to improve stability and to facilitate purification, among others, are familiar and routine techniques in the art.
  • a preferred fusion protein comprises a heterologous region from immunoglobulin that is useful to solubilize proteins.
  • EP-A-O 464533 (Canadian counterpart 2045869) discloses fusion proteins comprising various portions of constant region of immunoglobin molecules together with another human protein or part thereof.
  • the Fc part in a fusion protein is thoroughly advantageous for use in therapy and diagnosis and thus results, for example, in improved pharmacokinetic properties (EP-A 0232 262).
  • Fc portion proves to be a hindrance to use in therapy and diagnosis, for example when the fusion protein is to be used as an antigen for immunizations.
  • human proteins such as the hEL- 5 -receptor
  • Fc portions for the purpose of high-throughput screening assays to identify antagonists of hIL-5. See, D. Bennett et al, Journal of Molecular Recognition, 8:52-58 (1995) and K. Johanson et ⁇ /., The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 270:9459-9471 (1995).
  • Polypeptides of the present invention include naturally purified products, products of chemical synthetic procedures, and products produced by recombinant techniques from a prokaryotic or eukaryotic host, including, for example, bacterial, yeast, higher plant, insect and mammalian cells. Depending upon the host employed in a recombinant production procedure, the polypeptides of the present invention may be glycosylated or may be non-glycosylated. In addition, polypeptides of the invention may also include an initial modified methionine residue, in some cases as a result of host-mediated processes.
  • the DR5 polypeptides of the invention can also be expressed in transgenic animals.
  • Animals of any species including, but not limited to, mice, rats, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, pigs, micro-pigs, goats, sheep, cows and non- human primates, e.g., baboons, monkeys, and chimpanzees may be used to generate transgenic animals.
  • techniques described herein or otherwise known in the art are used to express polypeptides of the invention in humans, as part of a gene therapy protocol.
  • transgene i.e., nucleic acids of the invention
  • transgene i.e., nucleic acids of the invention
  • Such techniques include, but are not limited to, pronuclear microinjection (Patersonet ⁇ /., Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol.40:691-698 (1994); Carver et al, Biotechnology (NY) 11 : 1263-1270 (1993); Wright et al, Biotechnology (NY) 9:830-834 (1991); and Hoppe et al, US Patent Number 4,873,191 (1989)); retrovirus mediated gene transfer into germ lines (Van der Putten etal, Proc. Natl. Acad.
  • transgenic clones containing polynucleotides of the invention for example, nuclear transfer into enucleated oocytes of nuclei from cultured embryonic, fetal, or adult cells induced to quiescence (Campell et al, Nature 380:64-66 (1996); Wilmut et al, Nature 355:810-813 (1997)), each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety).
  • the present invention provides for transgenic animals that carry the transgene in all their cells, as well as animals which carry the transgene in some, but not all their cells, i.e., mosaic animals or chimeric animals.
  • the transgene may be integrated as a single transgene or as multiple copies such as in concatamers, e.g. , head-to-head tandems or head-to-tail tandems.
  • the transgene may also be selectively introduced into and activated in a particular cell type by following, for example, the teaching of Lasko etal. (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:6232-6236 (1992)).
  • the regulatory sequences required for such a cell-type specific activation will depend upon the particular cell type of interest, and will be apparent to those of skill in the art.
  • gene targeting is preferred.
  • vectors containing some nucleotide sequences homologous to the endogenous gene are designed for the purpose of integrating, via homologous recombination with chromosomal sequences, into and disrupting the function of the nucleotide sequence of the endogenous gene.
  • the transgene may also be selectively introduced into a particular cell type, thus inactivating the endogenous gene in only that cell type, by following, for example, the teaching of Gu et al. (Science 265: 103-106 (1994)).
  • the regulatory sequences required for such a cell-type specific inactivation will depend upon the particular cell type of interest, and will be apparent to those of skill in the art. The contents of each of the documents recited in this paragraph is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
  • the expression of the recombinant gene may be assayed utilizing standard techniques. Initial screening may be accomplished by Southern blot analysis or PCR techniques to analyze animal tissues to verify that integration of the transgene has taken place. The level of mRNA expression of the transgene in the tissues of the transgenic animals may also be assessed using techniques which include, but are not limited to, Northern blot analysis of tissue samples obtained from the animal, in situ hybridization analysis, and reverse transcriptase-PCR (rt-PCR). Samples of transgenic gene-expressing tissue may also be evaluated immunocytochemically or immunohistochemically using antibodies specific for the transgene product.
  • founder animals may be bred, inbred, outbred, or crossbred to produce colonies of the particular animal.
  • breeding strategies include, but are not limited to: outbreeding of founder animals with more than one integration site in order to establish separate lines; inbreeding of separate lines in order to produce compound transgenics that express the transgene at higher levels because of the effects of additive expression of each transgene; crossing of heterozygous transgenic animals to produce animals homozygous for a given integration site in order to both augment expression and eliminate the need for screening of animals by DNA analysis; crossing of separate homozygous lines to produce compound heterozygous or homozygous lines; and breeding to place the transgene on a distinct background that is appropriate for an experimental model of interest.
  • Transgenic and "knock-out" animals of the invention have uses which include, but are not limited to, animal model systems useful in elaborating the biological function of DR5 polypeptides, studying conditions and/or disorders associated with aberrant DR5 expression, and in screening for compounds effective in ameliorating such conditions and/or disorders.
  • cells that are genetically engineered to express the proteins of the invention, or alternatively, that are genetically engineered not to express the proteins of the invention are administered to a patient in vivo.
  • Such cells may be obtained from the patient (i.e., animal, including human) or an MHC compatible donor and can include, but are not limited to fibroblasts, bone marrow cells, blood cells (e.g., lymphocytes), adipocytes, muscle cells, endothelial cells, etc.
  • the cells are genetically engineered in vitro using recombinant DNA techniques to introduce the coding sequence of polypeptides of the invention into the cells, or alternatively, to disrupt the coding sequence and/or endogenous regulatory sequence associated with the polypeptides of the invention, e.g., by transduction (using viral vectors, and preferably vectors that integrate the transgene into the cell genome) or transfection procedures, including, but not limited to, the use of plasmids, cosmids, YACs, naked DNA, electroporation, liposomes, etc.
  • the coding sequence of the polypeptides of the invention can be placed under the control of a strong constitutive or inducible promoter or promoter/enhancer to achieve expression, and preferably secretion, of the polypeptides of the invention.
  • the engineered cells which express and preferably secrete the polypeptides of the invention can be introduced into the patient systemically, e.g., in the circulation, or intraperitoneally .
  • the cells can be incorporated into a matrix and implanted in the body, e.g., genetically engineered fibroblasts can be implanted as part of a skin graft; genetically engineered endothelial cells can be implanted as part of a lymphatic or vascular graft. (See, for example, Anderson et al US
  • the cells to be administered are non-autologous or non-MHC compatible cells, they can be administered using well known techniques which prevent the development of a host immune response against the introduced cells.
  • the cells may be introduced in an encapsulated form which, while allowing for an exchange of components with the immediate extracellular environment, does not allow the introduced cells to be recognized by the host immune system.
  • the invention further provides for the proteins containing polypeptide sequences encoded by the polynucleotides of the invention.
  • the DR5 proteins of the invention may be in monomers or multimers
  • the present invention relates to monomers and multimers of the DR5 proteins of the invention, their preparation, and compositions (preferably, pharmaceutical compositions) containing them.
  • the polypeptides of the invention are monomers, dimers, trimers or tetramers.
  • the multimers of the invention are at least dimers, at least trimers, or at least tetramers.
  • Multimers encompassed by the invention may be homomers or heteromers.
  • the term homomer refers to a multimer containing only DR5 proteins of the invention (including DR5 fragments, variants, and fusion proteins, as described herein). These homomers may contain DR5 proteins having identical or different polypeptide sequences.
  • a homomer of the invention is a multimer containing only DR5 proteins having an identical polypeptide sequence.
  • a homomer of the invention is a multimer containing DR5 proteins having different polypeptide sequences.
  • the multimer of the invention is a homodimer (e.g., containing DR5 proteins having identical or different polypeptide sequences) or a homotrimer (e.g., containing DR5 proteins having identical or different polypeptide sequences).
  • the homomeric multimer of the invention is at least a homodimer, at least a homotrimer, or at least a homotetramer.
  • heteromer refers to a multimer containing heterologous proteins (i.e., proteins containing only polypeptide sequences that do not correspond to a polypeptide sequences encoded by the DR5 gene) in addition to the DR5 proteins of the invention.
  • the multimer of the invention is a heterodimer, a heterotrimer, or a heterotetramer.
  • the heteromeric multimer of the invention is at least a heterodimer, at least a heterotrimer, or at least a heterotetramer.
  • Multimers of the invention may be the result of hydrophobic, hydrophilic, ionic and/or covalent associations and/or may be indirectly linked, by for example, liposome formation.
  • multimers of the invention such as, for example, homodimers or homotrimers
  • heteromultimers of the invention such as, for example, heterotrimers or heterotetramers
  • proteins of the invention contact antibodies to the polypeptides of the invention (including antibodies to the heterologous polypeptide sequence in a fusion protein of the invention) in solution.
  • multimers of the invention are formed by covalent associations with and/or between the DR5 proteins of the invention.
  • covalent associations may involve one or more amino acid residues contained in the polypeptide sequence of the protein (e.g., the polypeptide sequence recited in SEQ ED NO:2 or the polypeptide encoded by the deposited cDNA).
  • the covalent associations are cross-linking between cysteine residues located within the polypeptide sequences of the proteins which interact in the native ( . e. , naturally occurring) polypeptide.
  • the covalent associations are the consequence of chemical or recombinant manipulation.
  • such covalent associations may involve one or more amino acid residues contained in the heterologous polypeptide sequence in a DR5 fusion protein.
  • covalent associations are between the heterologous sequence contained in a fusion protein of the invention (see, e.g., US Patent Number 5,478,925).
  • the covalent associations are between the heterologous sequence contained in a DR5-Fc fusion protein of the invention (as described herein).
  • covalent associations of fusion proteins of the invention are between heterologous polypeptide sequences from another TNF family ligand/receptor member that is capable of forming covalently associated multimers, such as for example, oseteoprotegerin (see, e.g., International Publication No. WO 98/49305, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference in its entirety).
  • two or more DR5 polypeptides of the invention are joined through synthetic linkers (e.g., peptide, carbohydrate or soluble polymer linkers).
  • synthetic linkers e.g., peptide, carbohydrate or soluble polymer linkers. Examples include, but are not limited to, those peptide linkers described in U.S.
  • Proteins comprising multiple DR5 polypeptides separated by peptide linkers may be produced using conventional recombinant DNA technology.
  • Another method for preparing multimer DR5 polypeptides of the invention involves use of DR5 polypeptides fused to a leucine zipper or isoleucine zipper polypeptide sequence.
  • Leucine zipper domains and isoleucine zipper domains are polypeptides that promote multimerization of the proteins in which they are found.
  • Leucine zippers were originally identified in several DNA- binding proteins (Landschulz et al, Science 240: 1759, (1988)), and have since been found in a variety of different proteins.
  • the known leucine zippers are naturally occurring peptides and derivatives thereof that dimerize or trimerize.
  • leucine zipper domains suitable for producing soluble multimeric DR5 proteins are those described in PCT application WO 94/10308, hereby incorporated by reference.
  • Recombinant fusion proteins comprising a soluble DR5 polypeptide fused to a peptide that dimerizes or trimerizes in solution are expressed in suitable host cells, and the resulting soluble multimeric DR5 is recovered from the culture supernatant using techniques known in the art.
  • Certain members of the TNF family of proteins are believed to exist in trimeric form (Beutler and Huffel, Science 264:667, 1994; Banner et al, Cell 73:431 (1993)).
  • trimeric DR5 may offer the advantage of enhanced biological activity.
  • Preferred leucine zipper moieties are those that preferentially form trimers.
  • One example is a leucine zipper derived from lung surfactant protein D (SPD), as described in Hoppe et al. (FEBS Letters 344: 191 , (1994)) and in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/446,922, hereby incorporated by reference.
  • Other peptides derived from naturally occurring trimeric proteins may be employed in preparing trimeric DR5.
  • proteins of the invention are associated by interactions between Flag® polypeptide sequence contained in Flag®-DR5 or Flag®-DR5 fusion proteins of the invention.
  • associations proteins of the invention are associated by interactions between heterologous polypeptide sequence contained in Flag®-DR5 or Flag®-DR5 fusion proteins of the invention and anti-Flag® antibody.
  • the multimers of the invention may be generated using chemical techniques known in the art.
  • proteins desired to be contained in the multimers of the invention may be chemically cross-linked using linker molecules and linker molecule length optimization techniques known in the art (see, e.g., US Patent Number 5,478,925, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety).
  • multimers of the invention may be generated using techniques known in the art to form one or more inter-molecule cross-links between the cysteine residues located within the polypeptide sequence of the proteins desired to be contained in the multimer (see, e.g., US Patent Number 5,478,925, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety).
  • proteins of the invention may be routinely modified by the addition of cysteine or biotin to the C- terminus or N-terminus of the polypeptide sequence of the protein and techniques known in the art may be applied to generate multimers containing one or more of these modified proteins (see, e.g., US Patent Number 5,478,925, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety). Additionally, techniques known in the art may be applied to generate liposomes containing the protein components desired to be contained in the multimer of the invention (see, e.g., US Patent Number 5,478,925, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety).
  • multimers of the invention may be generated using genetic engineering techniques known in the art.
  • proteins contained in multimers of the invention are produced recombinantly using fusion protein technology described herein or otherwise known in the art (see, e.g. , US Patent
  • polynucleotides coding for a homodimer of the invention are generated by ligating a polynucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide of the invention to a sequence encoding a linker polypeptide and then further to a synthetic polynucleotide encoding the translated product of the polypeptide in the reverse orientation from the original C-terminus to the N-terminus (lacking the leader sequence) (see, e.g., US Patent Number 5,478,925, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety).
  • recombinant techniques described herein or otherwise known in the art are applied to generate recombinant polypeptides of the invention which contain a transmembrane domain and which can be incorporated by membrane reconstitution techniques into liposomes (see, e.g., US Patent Number 5,478,925, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety).
  • polypeptides of the present invention are preferably provided in an isolated form.
  • isolated polypeptide is intended a polypeptide removed from its native environment.
  • a polypeptide produced and/or contained within a recombinant host cell is considered isolated for purposes of the present invention.
  • isolated polypeptide are polypeptides that have been purified, partially or substantially, from a recombinant host cell.
  • a recombinantly produced version of the DR5 polypeptide can be substantially purified by the one-step method described in Smith and Johnson, Gene 67: 1-40 (1988).
  • the invention provides an isolated DR5 polypeptide having the amino acid sequence encoded by the deposited cDNA, or the amino acid sequence in SEQ ED NO:2, or a polypeptide or peptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, a portion (i.e., fragment) of the above polypeptides.
  • Polynucleotides encoding these polypeptides are also encompassed by the invention.
  • Polypeptide fragments of the present invention include polypeptides comprising, or alternatively consisting of, an amino acid sequence contained in
  • SEQ ID NO:2 encoded by the cDNA contained in the deposited plasmid, or encoded by nucleic acids which hybridize (e.g., under stringent hybridization conditions) to the nucleotide sequence contained in the deposited plasmid, or shown in FIG. 1 (SEQ ID NO: 1) or the complementary strand thereto.
  • Protein fragments may be "free-standing,” or comprised within a larger polypeptide of which the fragment forms a part or region, most preferably as a single continuous region.
  • polypeptide fragments of the invention include, for example, fragments that comprise, or alternatively consist of, a member selected from the group consisting of from about amino acid residues -51 to -1, 1 to 27, 28 to 40, 41 to 60, 61 to 83, 84 to 100, 101 to 127, 128 to
  • polypeptide fragments of the invention include, for example, fragments that comprise, or alternatively consist of, a member selected from the group consisting of from about amino acid residues 1-60, 11-70, 21-80, 31-90, 41-100, 51-110, 61-120, 71-130, 81-140, 91-150, 101-160, 1 1 1 -170, 121-180, 131-190, 141-200, 151-210, 161-220, 171-230, 181-240, 191-250, 201-260, 211-270, 221-280, 231-290, 241-300, 251-310, 261-320, 271-330, 281-340, 291-350, and 301-360 of SEQ ID NO:2, as well as isolated polynucleotides which encode these polypeptides.
  • polypeptide fragments can be at least about 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 130, 140, or 150 amino acids in length.
  • “about” includes the particularly recited value, larger or smaller by several (5, 4, 3, 2, or 1) amino acids, at either extreme or at both extremes.
  • Polynucleotides encoding these polypeptides are also encompassed by the invention.
  • Preferred polypeptide fragments of the present invention include a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, one, two, three, four, five or more amino acid sequences selected from the group consisting of: a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the DR5 receptor extracellular domain (predicted to constitute amino acid residues from about 1 to about 133 in SEQ ID NO:2); a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the DR5 cysteine rich domain (predicted to constitute amino acid residues from about 33 to about 128 in SEQ ID NO:2); a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the DR5 receptor transmembrane domain (predicted to constitute amino acid residues from about 134 to about 157 in SEQ ID NO:2); a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, fragment of the predicted mature DR5 polypeptide, wherein the fragment has a DR5 functional activity (e.g., antigenic activity or biological activity); a poly
  • polypeptide fragments of the invention comprise, or alternatively consist of, any combination of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or all 8 of the above members.
  • the amino acid residues constituting the DR5 receptor extracellular, transmembrane and intracellular domains have been predicted by computer analysis.
  • the amino acid residues constituting these domains may vary slightly (e.g., by about 1 to about 15 amino acid residues) depending on the criteriaused to define each domain.
  • Polynucleotides encoding these polypeptides are also encompassed by the invention.
  • polypeptide fragments of the invention comprise, or alternatively consist of, amino acid residues 33 to 80, and/or 81 to 128 of SEQ ED NO:2.
  • polypeptides of the invention comprise, or alternatively consist of, both of the extracellular cysteine-rich motifs disclosed in SEQ ED NO:2.
  • Polynucleotides encoding these polypeptides are also encompassed by the invention.
  • fragments comprising, or alternatively consisting of, structural or functional attributes of DR5.
  • Such fragments include amino acid residues that comprise, or alternatively consisting of, one, two, three, four or more of the following functional domains: alpha-helix and alpha-helix forming regions ("alpha-regions"), beta-sheet and beta-sheet-forming regions ("beta-regions"), turn and turn-forming regions ("turn-regions”), coil and coil-forming regions ("coil-regions”), hydrophillic regions, hydrophobic regions, alpha amphipathic regions, beta amphipathic regions, surface forming regions, and high antigenic index regions (i.e., regions of polypeptides consisting of amino acid residues having an antigenic index of or equal to greater than 1.5, as identified using the default parameters of the Jameson- Wolf program) of DR5.
  • Certain preferred regions are those disclosed in FIG. 3 and Table I and include, but are not limited to, regions of the aforementioned types identified by analysis of the amino acid sequence depicted in FIG. 1 , such preferred regions include; Garnier-Robson predicted alpha-regions, beta-regions, turn-regions, and coil-regions; Chou-Fasman predicted alpha-regions, beta-regions, and turn- regions; Kyte-Doolittle predicted hydrophilic regions and Hopp-Woods predicted hydrophobic regions; Eisenberg alpha and beta amphipathic regions; Emini surface-forming regions; and Jameson-Wolf high antigenic index regions, as predicted using the default parameters of these computer programs.
  • polypeptides encoding these polypeptides are also encompassed by the invention.
  • the invention provides a peptide or polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, one, two, three, four, five or more epitope-bearing portions of a polypeptide of the invention.
  • the epitope of this polypeptide portion is an immunogenic or antigenic epitope of a polypeptide described herein.
  • Polynucleotides encoding these polypeptides are also encompassed by the invention.
  • peptides or polypeptides bearing an antigenic epitope i. e. , that contain a region of a protein molecule to which an antibody can bind
  • relatively short synthetic peptides that mimic part of a protein sequence are routinely capable of eliciting an antiserum that reacts with the partially mimicked protein. See, for instance, J.G. Sutcliffe et al, "Antibodies That React With Predetermined Sites on Proteins," Science 219:660-666 (1983).
  • Peptides capable of eliciting protein-reactive sera are frequently represented in the primary sequence of a protein, can be characterized by a set of simple chemical rules, and are confined neither to immunodominant regions of intact proteins (i.e., immunogenic epitopes) nor to the amino or carboxyl terminals.
  • Antigenic epitope-bearing peptides and polypeptides of the invention are therefore useful to raise antibodies, including monoclonal antibodies, that bind specifically to a polypeptide of the invention. See, for instance, Wilson et al,
  • Antigenic epitope-bearing peptides and polypeptides of the invention preferably contain a sequence of at least seven, more preferably at least nine and most preferably between at least about 15 to about 30 amino acids contained within the amino acid sequence of a polypeptide of the invention.
  • antigenic epitopes preferably contain a sequence of at least 4, at least 5, at least 6, at least 7, more preferably at least 8, at least 9, at least 10, at least 15, at least 20, at least 25, and, most preferably, between about 15 to about 30 amino acids
  • Preferred polypeptides comprising, or alternatively consisting of, immunogenic or antigenic epitopes are at least 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, or 100 amino acid residues in length. Polynucleotides encoding these polypeptides are also encompassed by the invention
  • Antigenic epitopes are useful, for example, to raise antibodies, including monoclonal antibodies, that specifically bind the epitope. Further, antigenic epitopes can be used as the target molecules in immunoassays. (See, for instance, Wilson etal, Cell 37:767-778 (1984), Sutcliffe etal, Science 219:660- 666 (1983)).
  • Non-limiting examples of antigenic polypeptides or peptides that can be used to generate DR5 receptor-specific antibodies include: a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, amino acid residues from about 11 to about 59 in SEQ ID NO:2, from about 68 to about 113 in SEQ YD NO:2, from about 173 to about 220 in SEQ ID NO:2, and from about 224 to about 319 in SEQ ID NO:2.
  • “about” includes the particularly recited ranges, larger or smaller by several (5, 4, 3, 2, or 1) amino acid residues, at either terminus or at both termini.
  • the inventors have determined that the above polypeptide fragments are antigenic regions of the DR5 receptor protein. Polynucleotides encoding these polypeptides are also encompassed by the invention.
  • the epitope-bearing peptides and polypeptides of the invention may be produced by any conventional means.
  • Immunogenic epitopes can be used, for example, to induce antibodies according to methods well known in the art. (See, for instance, Sutcliffe et al, supra; Wilson et al, supra; Chow et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 82:910- 914; and Bittle et al, J. Gen. Virol. 66:2347-2354 (1985).
  • a preferred immunogenic epitope includes the secreted protein.
  • the polypeptides comprising one or more immunogenic epitopes may be presented for eliciting an antibody response together with a carrier protein, such as an albumin, to an animal system (such as, for example, rabbit or mouse), or, if the polypeptide is of sufficient length (at least about 25 amino acids), the polypeptide may be presented without a carrier.
  • a carrier protein such as an albumin
  • immunogenic epitopes comprising as few as 8 to 10 amino acids have been shown to be sufficient to raise antibodies capable of binding to, at the very least, linear epitopes in a denatured polypeptide (e.g., in Western blotting).
  • Epitope-bearing polypeptides of the present invention may be used to induce antibodies according to methods well known in the art including, but not limited to, in vivo immunization, in vitro immunization, and phage display methods. See, e.g. , Sutcliffe et al. , supra; Wilson et al. , supra, and Bittle et al. , J. Gen. Virol., 66:2347-2354 (1985).
  • animals may be immunized with free peptide; however, anti-peptide antibody titer may be boosted by coupling the peptide to a macromolecular carrier, such as keyhole limpet hemacyanin (KLH) or tetanus toxoid.
  • KLH keyhole limpet hemacyanin
  • peptides containing cysteine residues may be coupled to a carrier using a linker such as maleimidobenzoyl-N-hydroxysuccinimide ester (MBS), while other peptides may be coupled to carriers using a more general linking agent such as glutaraldehyde.
  • Animals such as, for example, rabbits, rats, and mice are immunized with either free or carrier-coupled peptides, for instance, by intraperitoneal and/or intradermal injection of emulsions containing about 100 micrograms of peptide or carrier protein and Freund's adjuvant or any other adjuvant known for stimulating an immune response.
  • booster injections may be needed, for instance, at intervals of about two weeks, to provide a useful titer of anti-peptide antibody that can be detected, for example, by ELISA assay using free peptide adsorbed to a solid surface.
  • the titer of anti-peptide antibodies in serum from an immunized animal may be increased by selection of anti-peptide antibodies, for instance, by adsorption to the peptide on a solid support and elution of the selected antibodies according to methods well known in the art.
  • DR5 receptor polypeptides of the present invention and the epitope-bearing fragments thereof described herein can be combined with heterologous polypeptide sequences.
  • the polypeptides of the present invention may be fused with the constant domain of immunoglobulins (IgA, IgE, IgG, IgM) or portions thereof (CHI, CH2, CH3, and any combination thereof, including both entire domains and portions thereof), resulting in chimeric polypeptides.
  • immunoglobulins IgA, IgE, IgG, IgM
  • CHI constant domain of immunoglobulins
  • CH2, CH3 any combination thereof, including both entire domains and portions thereof
  • Nucleic acids encoding the above epitopes can also be recombined with a gene of interest as an epitope tag (e.g., the hemagglutinin ("HA") tag or flag tag) to aid in detection and purification of the expressed polypeptide.
  • an epitope tag e.g., the hemagglutinin ("HA") tag or flag tag
  • HA hemagglutinin
  • a system described by Janknecht et al. allows for the ready purification of non- denatured fusion proteins expressed in human cell lines (Janknecht et al, 1991, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88:8972- 897).
  • the gene of interest is subcloned into a vaccinia recombination plasmid such that the open reading frame of the gene is translationally fused to an amino-terminal tag consisting of six histidine residues.
  • the tag serves as a matrix-binding domain for the fusion protein. Extracts from cells infected with the recombinant vaccinia virus are loaded onto Ni 2+ nitriloacetic acid-agarose column and histidine-tagged proteins can be selectively eluted with imidazole-containing buffers. Polynucleotides encoding these fusion proteins are also encompassed by the invention.
  • DNA shuffling The techniques of gene-shuffling, motif-shuffling, exon-shuffling, and/or codon-shuffling (collectively referred to as "DNA shuffling") may be employed to modulate the activities of DR5 thereby effectively generating agonists and antagonists of DR5. See generally, U.S. Patent Nos. 5,605,793, 5,811,238, 5,830,721, 5,834,252, and 5,837,458, and Patten, P. A., et al, Curr. Opinion Biotechnol 8:724-33 (1997); Harayama, S. Trends Biotechnol 16(2):76-82
  • alteration of DR5 polynucleotides and corresponding polypeptides may be achieved by DNA shuffling.
  • DNA shuffling involves the assembly of two or more DNA segments into a desired DR5 molecule by homologous, or site- specific, recombination.
  • DR5 polynucleotides and corresponding polypeptides may be altered by being subjected to random mutagenesis by error-prone PCR, random nucleotide insertion or other methods prior to recombination.
  • one or more components, motifs, sections, parts, domains, fragments, etc., of DR5 may be recombined with one or more components, motifs, sections, parts, domains, fragments, etc. of one or more heterologous molecules.
  • the heterologous molecules are, for example, TNF-alpha, lymphotoxin-alpha (LT-alpha, also known as TNF- beta), LT-beta (found in complex heterotrimer LT-alpha2-beta), OPGL, FasL, CD27L, CD30L, CD40L, 4-1BBL, DcR3, OX40L, TNF-gamma (International Publication No. WO 96/14328), A1M-I (International Publication No. WO 97/33899), AIM-II (International Publication No. WO 97/34911), APREL (J. Exp. Med. 188(6) : 1185- 1190), endokine-alpha (International Publication No.
  • WO 98/07880 Neutrokine-alpha (International Publication No. WO 98/18921), OPG, nerve growth factor (NGF), DR3 (International Publication No. WO 97/33904), DR4 (International Publication No. WO 98/32856), TR5 (International Publication No. WO 98/30693), TR6 (International Publication No. WO 98/30694), TRANK, TR9 (International Publication No. WO
  • the heterologous molecules are, for example, soluble forms of Fas, CD30, CD27, CD40 and 4-EBB.
  • heterologous molecules are any member of the TNF family.
  • DR5 polypeptides protein engineering may be employed.
  • Recombinant DNA technology known to those skilled in the art can be used to create novel mutant proteins or "muteins including single or multiple amino acid substitutions, deletions, additions or fusion proteins.
  • modified polypeptides can show, e.g., enhanced activity or increased stability.
  • they may be purified in higher yields and show better solubility than the corresponding natural polypeptide, at least under certain purification and storage conditions.
  • polypeptides composed of as few as six DR5 amino acid residues may often evoke an immune response.
  • Whether a particular polypeptide lacking N-terminal and/or C-terminal residues of a complete protein retains such immunologic activities can readily be determined by routine methods described herein and otherwise known in the art.
  • DR5 mutein with a large number of deleted N-terminal amino acid residues may retain some biological or immunogenic activities. It will be recognized in the art that some amino acid sequence of DR5 can be varied without significant effect on the structure or function of the protein. If such differences in sequence are contemplated, it should be remembered that there will be critical areas on the protein which determine activity. Such areas will usually comprise residues which make up the ligand binding site or the death domain, or which form tertiary structures which affect these domains.
  • the present invention further provides polypeptides having one or more residues deleted from the amino terminus of the DR5 amino acid sequence shown in FIG. 1, up to the alanine residue at position number 406 and polynucleotides encoding such polypeptides.
  • the present invention provides polypeptides comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the amino acid sequence of residues n ! -41 1 of FIG. 1, where n 1 is an integer from 2 to 406 corresponding to the position of the amino acid residue in FIG. 1 (which is identical to the sequence shown as SEQ ID NO:2, with the exception that the amino acid residues in FIG. 1 are numbered consecutively from 1 through 411 from the N-terminus to the C-terminus, while the amino acid residues in SEQ ED NO:2 are numbered consecutively from -51 through 360 to reflect the position of the predicted signal peptide).
  • the invention provides polynucleotides encoding polypeptides comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the amino acid sequence of a member selected from the group consisting of residues: E-2 to S-41 1; Q-3 to S-411; R-4 to S-411; G-5 to S-411; Q-6 to S-411; N-7 to S-411; A-8 to S- 411; P-9 to S-411; A-10 to S-411; A-l l to S-411; S-12 to S-411; G-13 to S- 411; A-14 to S-411; R-l 5 to S-411; K-16 to S-411; R-17 to S-411; H-18 to S- 411; G-19 to S-411; P-20 to S-41 1; G-21 to S-411; P-22 to S-411; R-23 to S-
  • FIG. 1 which is identical to the sequence shown as SEQ ED NO: 2, with the exception that the amino acid residues in FIG. 1 are numbered consecutively from 1 through 411 from the N-terminus to the C-terminus, while the amino acid residues in SEQ ID NO:2 are numbered consecutively from -51 through 360 to reflect the position of the predicted signal peptide).
  • the present invention is also directed to nucleic acid molecules comprising, or alternatively consisting of, a polynucleotide sequence at least 80%, 85%, 90%, 92%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% identical to the polynucleotide sequences encoding the polypeptides described above.
  • the invention is further directed to nucleic acid molecules comprising, or alternatively consisting of, polynucleotide sequences which encode polypeptides that are at least 80%, 85%, 90%, 92%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% identical to the polypeptides described above.
  • the present invention also encompasses the above polynucleotide sequences fused to a heterologous polynucleotide sequence. Polypeptides encoded by these polynucleotides are also encompassed by the invention.
  • N-terminal deletions of the DR5 polypeptide can be described by the general formula n 2 to 184 where n 2 is a number from 1 to 179 corresponding to the amino acid sequence identified in FIG. 1 (or where n 2 is a number from -51 to 128 corresponding to the amino acid sequence identified in SEQ ID NO:2).
  • N-terminal deletions of the DR5 of the invention comprise, or alternatively consist of, a member selected from the group consisting of amino acid residues: E-2 to G-184; Q-3 to G-184; R-4 to G-184;
  • G-184 E-151 to G-184; M-l 52 to G-184; C-153 to G-184; R-154 to G-184; K- 155 to G-184; C-156 to G-184; R-157 to G-184; T-158 to G-184; G-159 to G- 184; C-160 to G-184; P-161 to G-184; R-162 to G-184; G-163 to G-184; M- 164 to G-184; V-165 to G-184; K-166 to G-184; V-167 to G-184; G-168 to G- 184; D-169 to G-184; C-170 to G-184; T-171 to G-184; P-172 to G-184; W-
  • FIG. 1 which is identical to the sequence shown as SEQ ED NO: 2, with the exception that the amino acid residues in FIG. 1 are numbered consecutively from 1 through 411 from the N-terminus to the C-terminus, while the amino acid residues in SEQ ED NO: 2 are numbered consecutively from -51 through 360 to reflect the position of the predicted signal peptide).
  • the present invention is also directed to nucleic acid molecules comprising, or alternatively consisting of, a polynucleotide sequence at least 80%, 85%, 90%, 92%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% identical to the polynucleotide sequences encoding the polypeptides described above.
  • the invention is further directed to nucleic acid molecules comprising, or alternatively consisting of, polynucleotide sequences which encode polypeptides that are at least 80%, 85%, 90%, 92%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% identical to the polypeptides described above.
  • the present invention also encompasses the above polynucleotide sequences fused to a heterologous polynucleotide sequence. Polypeptides encoded by these polynucleotides are also encompassed by the invention.
  • deletion of one or more amino acids from the C-terminus of a protein results in modification of loss of one or more biological functions of the protein
  • other functional activities e.g., biological activities, ability to multimerize, ability to bind DR5 ligand (e.g., TRAEL)
  • biological activities e.g., biological activities, ability to multimerize, ability to bind DR5 ligand (e.g., TRAEL)
  • the ability of the shortened DR5 mutein to induce and/or bind to antibodies which recognize the complete or mature forms of the polypeptide generally will be retained when less than the majority of the residues of the complete or mature polypeptide are removed from the C-terminus.
  • the present invention further provides polypeptides having one or more residues deleted from the carboxy terminus of the amino acid sequence of the DR5 polypeptide shown in FIG. 1 (SEQ ED NO:2), up to the glutamic acid residue at position number 52, and polynucleotides encoding such polypeptides.
  • the present invention provides polypeptides comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the amino acid sequence of residues 52-m 1 of FIG. 1 (i.e., SEQ ID NO:2), where m 1 is an integer from 57 to 410 corresponding to the position of the amino acid residue in FIG. 1 (or where m 1 is an integer from 6 to 360 corresponding to the position of the amino acid residue in SEQ ED NO:2).
  • the invention provides polynucleotides encoding polypeptides comprising, or alternatively consisting of, a member selected from the group consisting of residues: E-52 to M-410; E-52 to A-409; E-52 to S-408; E-52 to D-407; E-52 to A-406; E-52 to N-405; E-52 to G-404; E-52 to E-403; E-52 to L-402; E-52 to Y-401; E-52 to M-400; E-52 to F-399; E-52 to K-398; E-52 to G-397; E-52 to S-396; E-52 to S-395; E-52 to L-394; E-52 to L-393; E-52 to H-392; E-52 to D-391; E-52 to E-390; E-52 to 1-389; E-52 to K-388; E-52 to Q-387; E-52 to K-386; E-52 to A-385; E-
  • the present invention is also directed to nucleic acid molecules comprising, or alternatively consisting of, a polynucleotide sequence at least 80%, 85%, 90%, 92%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% identical to the polynucleotide sequences encoding the polypeptides described above.
  • the invention is further directed to nucleic acid molecules comprising, or alternatively consisting of, polynucleotide sequences which encode polypeptides that are at least 80%, 85%, 90%, 92%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% identical to the polypeptides described above.
  • the present invention also encompasses the above polynucleotide sequences fused to a heterologous polynucleotide sequence. Polypeptides encoded by these polynucleotides are also encompassed by the invention.
  • C-terminal deletions of the DR5 polypeptide can be described by the general formula 52-m 2 where m 2 is a number from 57 to 183 corresponding to the amino acid sequence identified in FIG. 1 (SEQ ED NO: 2).
  • C-terminal deletions of the DR5 of the invention comprise, or alternatively, consist of, a member selected from the group consisting of residues: E-52 to S-183; E-52 to E-182; E-52 to K-181 E-52 to
  • the present invention is also directed to nucleic acid molecules comprising, or alternatively consisting of, a polynucleotide sequence at least 80%, 85%, 90%, 92%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% identical to the polynucleotide sequences encoding the polypeptides described above.
  • the invention is further directed to nucleic acid molecules comprising, or alternatively consisting of, polynucleotide sequences which encode polypeptides that are at least 80%, 85%, 90%, 92%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% identical to the polypeptides described above.
  • the present invention also encompasses the above polynucleotide sequences fused to a heterologous polynucleotide sequence. Polypeptides encoded by these polynucleotides are also encompassed by the invention.
  • the invention also provides polypeptides having one or more amino acids deleted from both the amino and the carboxyl termini of a DR5 polypeptide, which may be described generally as having residues n 1 - m 1 and/or n 2 - m 2 of FIG.
  • n 1 , n 2 , m 1 , and m 2 are integers as described above.
  • nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide consisting of a portion of the complete DR5 amino acid sequence encoded by the cDNA contained in ATCC Deposit No. 97920, where this portion excludes from
  • N- and C-terminal deletion mutants are those comprising, or alternatively consisting of, only a portion of the extracellular domain; i. e. , within residues 52- 184, since any portion therein is expected to be soluble.
  • the invention further includes variations of the DR5 protein which show substantial DR5 protein activity or which include regions of DR5, such as the protein portions discussed below.
  • Such mutants include deletions, insertions, inversions, repeats, and type substitutions.
  • guidance concerning which amino acid changes are likely to be phenotypically silent can be found in Bowie, J.U. et al, Science 2 ⁇ 7:1306-1310 (1990).
  • the fragment, derivative, or analog of the polypeptide of SEQ ED NO:2, or that encoded by the deposited cDNA may be (i) one in which at least one or more of the amino acid residues are substituted with a conserved or non- conserved amino acid residue (preferably a conserved amino acid residue(s), and more preferably at least one but less than ten conserved amino acid residues) and such substituted amino acid residue may or may not be one encoded by the genetic code, or (ii) one in which one or more of the amino acid residues includes a substituent group, or (iii) one in which the mature polypeptide is fused with another compound, such as a compound to increase the half-life of the polypeptide (for example, polyethylene glycol), or (iv) one in which the additional amino acids are fused to the mature polypeptide, such as an IgG Fc fusion region peptide or leader or secretory sequence or a sequence which is employed for purification of the mature polypeptide or a proprotein sequence
  • fragments, derivatives and analogs are deemed to be within the scope of those skilled in the art from the teachings herein.
  • Polynucleotides encoding these fragments, derivatives or analogs are also encompassed by the invention.
  • substitutions of charged amino acids with another charged amino acids and with neutral or negatively charged amino acids are also encompassed by the invention.
  • substitutions of charged amino acids with another charged amino acids and with neutral or negatively charged amino acids results in proteins with reduced positive charge to improve the characteristics of the DR5 protein.
  • one or more of the amino acid residues of the polypeptides of the invention e.g., arginine and lysine residues
  • the replacement of amino acids can also change the selectivity of binding to cell surface receptors. Ostade et al, Nature 361:266-268 (1993) describes certain mutations resulting in selective binding of TNF-alpha to only one of the two known types of TNF receptors.
  • the DR5 receptor of the present invention may include one or more amino acid substitutions, deletions or additions, either from natural mutations or human manipulation.
  • changes are preferably of a minor nature, such as conservative amino acid substitutions that do not significantly affect the folding or activity of the protein (see Table II).
  • the number of substitutions, additions or deletions in the amino acid sequence of FIG. 1 and/or any of the polypeptide fragments described herein is 75, 70, 60, 50, 40, 35, 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 or 30-20, 20- 15, 20-10, 15-10, 10-1, 5-10, 1-5, 1-3 or 1-2.
  • Polynucleotides encoding these polypeptides are also encompassed by the invention.
  • Amino acids in the DR5 protein of the present invention that are essential for function can be identified by methods known in the art, such as site-directed mutagenesis or alanine-scanning mutagenesis (Cunningham and Wells, Science 2 ⁇ : 1081-1085 (1989)). The latter procedure introduces single alanine mutations at every residue in the molecule. The resulting mutant molecules are then tested for biological activity such as receptor binding or in vitro, or in vitro proliferative activity. Sites that are critical for ligand-receptor binding can also be determined by structural analysis such as crystallization, nuclear magnetic resonance or photoaffinity labeling (Smith et al, J. Mol. Biol. 224:899-904
  • protein engineering may be employed to improve or alter the characteristics of DR5 polypeptides.
  • Recombinant DNA technology known to those skilled in the art can be used to create novel mutant proteins or muteins including single or multiple amino acid substitutions, deletions, additions or fusion proteins.
  • modified polypeptides can show, e.g., enhanced activity or increased stability.
  • they may be purified in higher yields and show better solubility than the corresponding natural polypeptide, at least under certain purification and storage conditions.
  • Non-naturally occurring variants may be produced using art-known mutagenesis techniques, which include, but are not limited to oligonucleotide mediated mutagenesis, alanine scanning, PCR mutagenesis, site directed mutagenesis (see e.
  • the invention also encompasses DR5 derivatives and analogs that have one or more amino acid residues deleted, added, or substituted to generate DR5 polypeptides that are better suited for expression, scale up, etc., in the host cells chosen.
  • cysteine residues can be deleted or substituted with another amino acid residue in order to eliminate disulfide bridges; N-linked glycosylation sites can be altered or eliminated to achieve, for example, expression of a homogeneous product that is more easily recovered and purified from yeast hosts which are known to hyperglycosylate N-linked sites.
  • polypeptides of the present invention also include a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, one, two, three, four, five or more amino acid sequences selected from the group consisting of: the polypeptide encoded by the deposited cDNA (the deposit having ATCC Accession Number
  • the leader including the leader; the mature polypeptide encoded by the deposited the cDNA minus the leader (i.e., the mature protein); a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, amino acids from about -51 to about 360 in SEQ ED NO: 2; a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, amino acids from about -50 to about 360 in SEQ ED NO:2; a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, amino acids from about 1 to about 360 in SEQ YD NO:2; a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the DR5 extracellular domain; a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the DR5 cysteine rich domain; a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the DR5 transmembrane domain; a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the DR5 intracellular domain; a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, the extracellular and intracellular
  • identical to a reference amino acid sequence of a DR5 polypeptide is intended that the amino acid sequence of the polypeptide is identical to the reference sequence except that the polypeptide sequence may include up to five amino acid alterations per each 100 amino acids of the reference amino acid of the DR5 polypeptide.
  • up to 5% of the amino acid residues in the reference sequence may be deleted or substituted with another amino acid, or a number of amino acids up to 5% of the total amino acid residues in the reference sequence may be inserted into the reference sequence.
  • FIG. 1 SEQ ED NO: 2
  • the amino acid sequence encoded by the deposited cDNA, or fragments thereof can be determined conventionally using known computer programs such the Bestfit program (Wisconsin Sequence Analysis Package, Version 8 for Unix, Genetics Computer Group, University Research Park, 575 Science Drive, Madison, WI 53711).
  • the parameters are set, of course, such that the percentage of identity is calculated over the full length of the reference amino acid sequence and that gaps in homology of up to 5% of the total number of amino acid residues in the reference sequence are allowed.
  • the identity between a reference (query) sequence (a sequence of the present invention) and a subject sequence is determined using the FASTDB computer program based on the algorithm of Brutlag et al. (Comp. App. Biosci. 6:237-245 (1990)).
  • Size 500 or the length of the subject amino acid sequence, whichever is shorter.
  • a manual correction is made to the results to take into consideration the fact that the FASTDB program does not account for N- and C-terminal truncations of the subject sequence when calculating global percent identity.
  • the percent identity is corrected by calculating the number of residues of the query sequence that are N- and C-terminal of the subject sequence, which are not matched/aligned with a corresponding subject residue, as a percent of the total bases of the query sequence.
  • a determination of whether a residue is matched/aligned is determined by results of the FASTDB sequence alignment. This percentage is then subtracted from the percent identity, calculated by the above FASTDB program using the specified parameters, to arrive at a final percent identity score. This final percent identity score is what is used for the purposes of this embodiment. Only residues to the N- and C-termini of the subject sequence, which are not matched/aligned with the query sequence, are considered for the purposes of manually adjusting the percent identity score. That is, only query residue positions outside the farthest N- and C-terminal residues of the subject sequence. For example, a 90 amino acid residue subject sequence is aligned with a 100 residue query sequence to determine percent identity.
  • the deletion occurs at the N-terminus of the subject sequence and therefore, the FASTDB alignment does not show a matching/alignment of the first 10 residues at the N-terminus.
  • the 10 unpaired residues represent 10%> of the sequence (number of residues at the N- and C-termini not matched/total number of residues in the query sequence) so 10% is subtracted from the percent identity score calculated by the FASTDB program. If the remaining 90 residues were perfectly matched the final percent identity would be 90%.
  • a 90 residue subject sequence is compared with a 100 residue query sequence. This time the deletions are internal deletions so there are no residues at the N- or C-termini of the subject sequence which are not matched/aligned with the query.
  • polypeptide of the present invention have uses that include, but are not limited to, use as a molecular weight marker on SDS-PAGE gels or on molecular sieve gel filtration columns and as a source for generating antibodies that bind the polypeptides of the invention, using methods well known to those of skill in the art.
  • the present application is also directed to proteins containing polypeptides at least 80%, 85%, 90%, 92%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99% identical to the DR5 polypeptide sequence set forth herein as n ⁇ m 1 , and/or n 2 -m 2 .
  • the application is directed to proteins containing polypeptides at least 80%, 85%, 90%, 92%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98% or 99% identical to polypeptides having the amino acid sequence of the specific DR5 N- and C-terminal deletions recited herein. Polynucleotides encoding these polypeptides are also encompassed by the invention.
  • DR5 proteins of the invention comprise fusion proteins as described above wherein the DR5 polypeptides are those described as n'-m 1 , and n 2 -m 2 , herein.
  • the application is directed to nucleic acid molecules at least 80%>, 85%, 90%, 92%>, 95%, 96%), 91%, 98% or 99%> identical to the nucleic acid sequences encoding polypeptides having the amino acid sequence of the specific N- and C-terminal deletions recited herein. Polynucleotides encoding these polypeptides are also encompassed by the invention.
  • the DR5 polypeptide is a 411 residue protein exhibiting three main structural domains.
  • the ligand binding domain extracellular domain
  • the transmembrane domain was identified within residues from about 185 to about 208 in FIG 1 (amino acid residues from about 134 to about
  • the intracellular domain includes a death domain at residues from about 324 to about 391 (amino acid residues from about 273 to about 340 in SEQ ED NO:2).
  • Further preferred fragments of the polypeptide shown in FIG. 1 include the mature protein from residues about 52 to about 411 (amino acid residues from about 1 to about 360 in SEQ ED NO: 2), and soluble polypeptides comprising all or part of the extracellular and intracellular domains but lacking the transmembrane domain.
  • the invention further provides DR5 polypeptides encoded by the deposited cDNA including the leader and DR5 polypeptide fragments selected from the mature protein, the extracellular domain, the transmembrane domain, the intracellular domain, the death domain, and all combinations thereof.
  • proteins of the invention can be chemically synthesized using techniques known in the art (e.g., see Creighton, 1983, Proteins: Structures and Molecular Principles, W.H. Freeman & Co., N.Y., and Hunkapiller, M., et al,
  • a peptide corresponding to a fragment of the DR5 polypeptides of the invention can be synthesized by use of a peptide synthesizer.
  • nonclassical amino acids or chemical amino acid analogs can be introduced as a substitution or addition into the DR5 polypeptide sequence.
  • Non-classical amino acids include, but are not limited to, to the D-isomers of the common amino acids, 2,4-diaminobutyric acid, a-amino isobutyric acid, 4-aminobutyric acid, Abu, 2-amino butyric acid, g-Abu, e-Ahx, 6-amino hexanoic acid, Aib, 2-amino isobutyric acid, 3 -amino propionic acid, ornithine, norleucine, norvaline, hydroxyproline, sarcosine, citrulline, homocitrulline, cysteic acid, t-butylglycine, t-butyl alanine, phenylglycine, cyclohexylalanine, b-alanine, fluoro-amino acids, designer amino acids such as b-methyl amino acids, Ca-methyl amino acids, Na-methyl amino acids, and amino acid analogs in general.
  • the amino acid can be D (dextrorotary) or L (levorotary).
  • Non-naturally occurring variants may be produced using art-known mutagenesis techniques, which include, but are not limited to oligonucleotide mediated mutagenesis, alanine scanning, PCR mutagenesis, site directed mutagenesis (.see, e.g., Carter etal, Nucl. AcidsRes. 73:4331 (1986); and Zoller et al, Nucl. Acids Res.
  • cassette mutagenesis see, e.g., Wells et al, Gene 34.315 (1985)
  • restriction selection mutagenesis see, e.g., Wells et al, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London SerA 377:415 (1986)).
  • the invention additionally, encompasses DR5 polypeptides which are differentially modified during or after translation, e.g., by glycosylation, acetylation, phosphorylation, amidation, derivatization by known protecting/blocking groups, proteolytic cleavage, linkage to an antibody molecule or other cellular ligand, etc. Any of numerous chemical modifications may be carried out by known techniques, including but not limited to, specific chemical cleavage by cyanogen bromide, trypsin, chymotrypsin, papain, V8 protease, NaBH 4 acetylation, formylation, oxidation, reduction, metabolic synthesis in the presence of tunicamycin; etc.
  • Additional post-translational modifications encompassed by the invention include, for example, e.g., N-linked or O-linked carbohydrate chains, processing of N-terminal or C-terminal ends), attachment of chemical moieties to the amino acid backbone, chemical modifications of N-linked or O-linked carbohydrate chains, and addition or deletion of an N-terminal methionine residue as a result of procaryotic host cell expression.
  • the polypeptides may also be modified with a detectable label, such as an enzymatic, fluorescent, isotopic or affinity label to allow for detection and isolation of the protein.
  • chemically modified derivatives of DR5 which may provide additional advantages such as increased solubility, stability and circulating time of the polypeptide, or decreased immunogenicity (see U. S. Patent No. 4, 179,337).
  • the chemical moieties for derivitization may be selected from water soluble polymers such as polyethylene glycol, ethylene glycol/propylene glycol copolymers, carboxymethylcellulose, dextran, polyvinyl alcohol and the like.
  • the polypeptides may be modified at random positions within the molecule, or at predetermined positions within the molecule and may include one, two, three or more attached chemical moieties.
  • the polymer may be of any molecular weight, and may be branched or unbranched.
  • the preferred molecular weight is between about 1 kDa and about 100 kDa (the term "about” indicating that in preparations of polyethylene glycol, some molecules will weigh more, some less, than the stated molecular weight) for ease in handling and manufacturing.
  • Other sizes may be used, depending on the desired therapeutic profile (e.g., the duration of sustained release desired, the effects, if any on biological activity, the ease in handling, the degree or lack of antigenicity and other known effects of the polyethylene glycol to a therapeutic protein or analog).
  • the polyethylene glycol may have an average molecular weight of about 200, 500, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000, 3500, 4000, 4500, 5000, 5500, 6000, 6500, 7000, 7500, 8000, 8500, 9000, 9500, 10,000, 10,500, 11,000, 11,500, 12,000, 12,500, 13,000, 13,500, 14,000, 14,500, 15,000, 15,500, 16,000, 16,500,
  • polyethylene glycol may have a branched structure.
  • Branched polyethylene glycols are described, for example, in U.S. Patent No.
  • polyethylene glycol may be covalently bound through amino acid residues via a reactive group, such as, a free amino or carboxyl group.
  • Reactive groups are those to which an activated polyethylene glycol molecule may be bound.
  • the amino acid residues having a free amino group may include lysine residues and the N-terminal amino acid residues; those having a free carboxyl group may include aspartic acid residues glutamic acid residues and the C-terminal amino acid residue.
  • Sulfhydryl groups may also be used as a reactive group for attaching the polyethylene glycol molecules. Preferred for therapeutic purposes is attachment at an amino group, such as attachment at the N-terminus or lysine group.
  • polyethylene glycol may be attached to proteins via linkage to any of a number of amino acid residues.
  • polyethylene glycol can be linked to a proteins via covalent bonds to lysine, histidine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, or cysteine residues.
  • reaction chemistries may be employed to attach polyethylene glycol to specific amino acid residues (e.g., lysine, histidine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, or cysteine) of the protein or to more than one type of amino acid residue (e.g., lysine, histidine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, cysteine and combinations thereof) of the protein.
  • specific amino acid residues e.g., lysine, histidine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, or cysteine
  • amino acid residues e.g., lysine, histidine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, cysteine and combinations thereof
  • polyethylene glycol as an illustration of the present composition, one may select from a variety of polyethylene glycol molecules (by molecular weight, branching, etc.), the proportion of polyethylene glycol molecules to protein (or peptide) molecules in the reaction mix, the type of pegylation reaction to be performed, and the method of obtaining the selected N-terminally pegylated protein.
  • the method of obtaining the N-terminally pegylated preparation i.e., separating this moiety from other monopegylated moieties if necessary
  • Selective proteins chemically modified at the N-terminus modification may be accomplished by reductive alkylation which exploits differential reactivity of different types of primary amino groups (lysine versus the N-terminal) available for derivatization in a particular protein. Under the appropriate reaction conditions, substantially selective derivatization of the protein at the N-terminus with a carbonyl group containing polymer is achieved.
  • pegylation of the proteins of the invention may be accomplished by any number of means.
  • polyethylene glycol may be attached to the protein either directly or by an intervening linker. Linkerless systems for attaching polyethylene glycol to proteins are described in Delgado et al, Crit. Rev. Thera. Drug Carrier Sys.
  • One system for attaching polyethylene glycol directly to amino acid residues of proteins without an intervening linker employs tresylated MPEG, which is produced by the modification of monmethoxy polyethylene glycol
  • the invention includes protein-polyethylene glycol conjugates produced by reacting proteins of the invention with a polyethylene glycol molecule having a 2,2,2-trifluoreothane sulphonyl group.
  • Polyethylene glycol can also be attached to proteins using a number of different intervening linkers.
  • U.S. Patent No. 5,612,460 discloses urethane linkers for connecting polyethylene glycol to proteins.
  • Protein-polyethylene glycol conjugates wherein the polyethylene glycol is attached to the protein by a linker can also be produced by reaction of proteins with compounds such as MPEG- succinimidylsuccinate, MPEG activated with l J'-carbonyldiimidazole, MPEG- 2,4,5-trichloropenylcarbonate, MPEG-p-nitrophenolcarbonate, and various MPEG- succinate derivatives.
  • the number of polyethylene glycol moieties attached to each protein of the invention may also vary.
  • the pegylated proteins of the invention may be linked, on average, to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 17, 20, or more polyethylene glycol molecules.
  • the average degree of substitution within ranges such as 1-3, 2-4, 3-5, 4-6, 5-7, 6-8, 7-9, 8-10, 9-11, 10-12, 11 -13, 12-14, 13-15, 14-16, 15-17, 16-18, 17-19, or 18- 20 polyethylene glycol moieties per protein molecule. Methods for determining the degree of substitution are discussed, for example, inDelgado etal, Crit. Rev. Ther a. Drug Carrier Sys. 9:249-304 (1992).
  • DR5 polypeptides may be modified by either natural processes, such as posttranslational processing, or by chemical modification techniques which are well known in the art. It will be appreciated that the same type of modification may be present in the same or varying degrees at several sites in a given DR5 polypeptide. Also, a given DR5 polypeptide may contain many types of modifications. DR5 polypeptides may be branched, for example, as a result of ubiquitination, and they may be cyclic, with or without branching. Cyclic, branched, and branched cyclic DR5 polypeptides may result from posttranslation natural processes or may be made by synthetic methods.
  • Modifications include acetylation, acylation, ADP-ribosylation, amidation, covalent attachment of flavin, covalent attachment of a heme moiety, covalent attachment of a nucleotide or nucleotide derivative, covalent attachment of a lipid or lipid derivative, covalent attachment of phosphotidylinositol, cross- linking, cyclization, disulfide bond formation, demethylation, formation of covalent cross-links, formation of cysteine, formation of pyroglutamate, formylation, gamma-carboxylation, glycosylation, GPI anchor formation, hydroxylation, iodination, methylation, myristoylation, oxidation, pegylation, proteolytic processing, phosphorylation, prenylation, racemization, selenoylation, sulfation, transfer-RNA mediated addition of amino acids to proteins such as arginylation, and ubiquitination.
  • the DR5 polypeptides can be recovered and purified from chemical synthesis and recombinant cell cultures by standard methods which include, but are not limited to, ammonium sulfate or ethanol precipitation, acid extraction, anion or cation exchange chromatography, phosphocellulose chromatography, hydrophobic interaction chromatography, affinity chromatography, hydroxylapatite chromatography and lectin chromatography. Most preferably, high performance liquid chromatography ("HPLC”) is employed for purification. Well known techniques for refolding protein may be employed to regenerate active conformation when the polypeptide is denatured during isolation and/or purification.
  • HPLC high performance liquid chromatography
  • DR5 polynucleotides and polypeptides may be used in accordance with the present invention for a variety of applications, particularly those that make use of the chemical and biological properties of DR5.
  • applications in the treatment and/or prevention of tumors, parasitic infections, bacterial infections, viral infections, restenosis, and graft vs. host disease; to induce resistance to parasites, bacteria and viruses; to induce proliferation of T- cells, endothelial cells and certain hematopoietic cells; to regulate anti-viral responses; and to treat and/or prevent certain autoimmune diseases after stimulation of DR5 by an agonist.
  • Additional applications relate to diagnosis, treatment, and/or prevention of disorders of cells, tissues and organisms. These aspects of the invention are discussed further below.
  • the present invention encompasses polypeptides comprising, or alternatively consisting of, an epitope of the polypeptide having an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2, or an epitope of the polypeptide sequence encoded by a polynucleotide sequence contained in the cDNA deposited as ATCC Deposit No. 97920 or encoded by a polynucleotide that hybridizes to the complement of the sequence of SEQ ID NOJ or contained in the cDNA deposited as ATCC Deposit No. 97920 under stringent hybridization conditions or lower stringency hybridization conditions as defined supra.
  • the present invention further encompasses polynucleotide sequences encoding an epitope of a polypeptide sequence of the invention (such as, for example, the sequence disclosed in SEQ YD NOJ), polynucleotide sequences of the complementary strand of a polynucleotide sequence encoding an epitope of the invention, and polynucleotide sequences which hybridize to the complementary strand under stringent hybridization conditions or lower stringency hybridization conditions defined supra.
  • the invention provides a peptide or polypeptide comprising an epitope-bearing portion of a polypeptide described herein.
  • the epitope of this polypeptide portion is an immunogenic or antigenic epitope of a polypeptide of the invention.
  • epitopes refers to portions of a polypeptide having antigenic or immunogenic activity in an animal, preferably a mammal, and most preferably in a human.
  • the present invention encompasses a polypeptide comprising an epitope, as well as the polynucleotide encoding this polypeptide.
  • immunogenic epitope is defined as a part of a protein that elicits an antibody response when the whole protein is the immunogen.
  • a region of a protein molecule to which an antibody can bind is defined as an "antigenic epitope.”
  • the number of immunogenic epitopes of a protein generally is less than the number of antigenic epitopes. See, for instance, Geysen et al, Proc.
  • Fragments that function as epitopes may be produced by any conventional means. (See, e.g., Houghten, Proc. Nail Acad. Sci. USA 52:5131 -5135 (1985), further described in U.S. Patent No. 4,631,211).
  • peptides or polypeptides bearing an antigenic epitope i.e. , that contain a region of a protein molecule to which an antibody can bind
  • relatively short synthetic peptides that mimic part of a protein sequence are routinely capable of eliciting an antiserum that reacts with the partially mimicked protein. See, for instance, Sutcliffe, J. G.,
  • Peptides capable of eliciting protein-reactive sera are frequently represented in the primary sequence of a protein, can be characterized by a set of simple chemical rules, and are confined neither to immunodominant regions of intact proteins (i.e., immunogenic epitopes) nor to the amino or carboxyl terminals.
  • Non-limiting examples of antigenic polypeptides or peptides that can be used to generate DR5-specific antibodies include: a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, amino acid residues from about 62 to about 110 in
  • FIG. 1 (about 11 to about 59 in SEQ ID NO:2); a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, amino acid residues from about 119 to about 164 in FIG. 1 (about 68 to about 113 in SEQ ID NO:2); a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, amino acid residues from about 224 to about 271 in FIG. 1 (about 173 to about 220 in SEQ YD NO:2); and a polypeptide comprising, or alternatively consisting of, amino acid residues from about 275 to about 370 in FIG. 1 (about 224 to about 319 in SEQ ID NO:2).
  • the inventors have determined that the above polypeptide fragments are antigenic regions of the DR5 protein.
  • the epitope-bearing peptides and polypeptides of the invention may be produced by any conventional means. Hougthen, R. A., "General Method for the Rapid Solid-Phase Synthesis of Large Numbers of Peptides: Specificity of Antigen- Antibody Interaction at the Level of Individual Amino Acids," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 52:5131-5135 (1985). This "Simultaneous Multiple Peptide Synthesis (SMPS)" process is further described in U.S. Patent No.
  • DR5 polypeptides of the present invention and the epitope-bearing fragments thereof described above can be combined with parts of the constant domain of immunoglobulins (IgG), resulting in chimeric polypeptides.
  • IgG immunoglobulins
  • These fusion proteins facilitate purification and show an increased half-life in vivo. This has been shown, e.g. , for chimeric proteins consisting of the first two domains of the human CD4-polypeptide and various domains of the constant regions of the heavy or light chains of mammalian immunoglobulins (EPA 394, 827; Traunecker et al, Nature 337:84- 86 (1988)).
  • Fusion proteins that have a disulfide-linked dimeric structure due to the IgG part can also be more efficient in binding and neutralizing other molecules than the monomeric DR5 protein or protein fragment alone (Fountoulakis et al, J Biochem. 270:3958-3964 (1995)).
  • the present invention further relates to antibodies and T-cell antigen receptors (TCR) which immunospecifically bind a polypeptide, preferably an epitope, of the present invention (as determined by immunoassays well known in the art for assaying specific antibody-antigen binding).
  • TCR T-cell antigen receptors
  • Antibodies of the invention include, but are not limited to, polyclonal, monoclonal, multispecific, human, humanized or chimeric antibodies, single chain antibodies, Fab fragments, F(ab') fragments, fragments produced by a Fab expression library, anti-idiotypic (anti-Id) antibodies (including, e.g., anti-Id antibodies to antibodies of the invention), and epitope-binding fragments of any of the above.
  • antibody refers to immunoglobulin molecules and immunologically active portions of immunoglobulin molecules, i.e., molecules that contain an antigen binding site that immunospecifically binds an antigen.
  • the immunoglobulin molecules of the invention can be of any type (e.g., IgG, IgE, IgM, IgD, IgA and IgY), class (e.g., IgGl, IgG2, IgG3, IgG4, EgAl and IgA2) or subclass of immunoglobulin molecule.
  • the antibodies are human antigen-binding antibody fragments of the present invention and include, but are not limited to, Fab, Fab' and F(ab')2, Fd, single-chain Fvs (scFv), single-chain antibodies, disulfide-linked Fvs (sdFv) and fragments comprising either a V L or V H domain.
  • Antigen-binding antibody fragments, including single-chain antibodies may comprise the variable region(s) alone or in combination with the entirety or a portion of the following: hinge region, CHI, CH2, and CH3 domains. Also included in the invention are antigen-binding fragments also comprising any combination of variable region(s) with a hinge region, CHI, CH2, and CH3 domains.
  • the antibodies of the invention may be from any animal origin including birds and mammals.
  • the antibodies are human, murine, donkey, ship rabbit, goat, guinea pig, camel, horse, or chicken.
  • "human” antibodies include antibodies having the amino acid sequence of a human immunoglobulin and include antibodies isolated from human immunoglobulin libraries or from animals transgenic for one or more human immunoglobulin and that do not express endogenous immunoglobulins, as described infra and, for example in, U.S. Patent No. 5,939,598 by Kucherlapati et al.
  • the antibodies of the present invention may be monospecific, bispecific, trispecific or of greater multi specificity. Multispecific antibodies may be specific for different epitopes of a polypeptide of the present invention or may be specific for both a polypeptide of the present invention as well as for a heterologous epitope, such as a heterologous polypeptide or solid support material. See, e.g., PCT publications WO 93/17715; WO 92/08802; WO 91/00360; WO 92/05793; Tutt et al, J. Immunol. 147:60-69 (1991); U.S. Patent Nos. 4,474,893; 4,714,681; 4,925,648; 5,573,920; 5,601,819; Kostelny et al, J. Immunol.
  • Antibodies of the present invention may be described or specified in terms of the epitope(s) or portion(s) of a polypeptide of the present invention that they recognize or specifically bind.
  • the epitope(s) or polypeptide portion(s) may be specified as described herein, e.g., by N-terminal and C-terminal positions, by size in contiguous amino acid residues, or listed in the Tables and Figures.
  • Antibodies that specifically bind any epitope or polypeptide of the present invention may also be excluded. Therefore, the present invention includes antibodies that specifically bind polypeptides of the present invention, and allows for the exclusion of the same.
  • Antibodies of the present invention may also be described or specified in terms of their cross-reactivity. Antibodies that do not bind any other analog, ortholog, or homolog of a polypeptide of the present invention are included. Antibodies that bind polypeptides with at least 95%, at least 90%, at least 85%, at least 80%, at least 75%, at least 70%, at least 65%, at least 60%, at least 55%, and at least 50%> identity (as calculated using methods known in the art and described herein) to a polypeptide of the present invention are also included in the present invention.
  • Antibodies that do not bind polypeptides with less than 95%, less than 90%, less than 85%, less than 80%, less than 75%, less than 70%, less than 65%>, less than 60%, less than 55%>, and less than 50% identity (as calculated using methods known in the art and described herein) to a polypeptide of the present invention are also included in the present invention. Further included in the present invention are antibodies that bind polypeptides encoded by polynucleotides which hybridize to a polynucleotide of the present invention under stringent hybridization conditions (as described herein). Antibodies of the present invention may also be described or specified in terms of their binding affinity to a polypeptide of the invention.
  • Preferred binding affinities include those with a dissociation constant or Kd less than 5X10 "2 M, 10 "2 M, 5X10 "3 M, 10 '3 M, 5X10 "4 M, 10 "4 M, 5X10 "5 M, 10 "5 M, 5X10 “6 M, 10 “6 M, 5X10 "7 M, 10 "7 M, 5X10 “8 M, 10 “8 M, 5X10 "9 M, lO ⁇ M, 5X10- 10 M, 10- 10 M, 5X10- ⁇ M, 10-"M,
  • the invention also provides antibodies that competitively inhibit binding of an antibody to an epitope of the invention as determined by any method known in the art for determining competitive binding, for example, the immunoassays described herein.
  • the antibody competitively inhibits binding to the epitope by at least 90%, at least 80%>, at least 70%, at least 60%, or at least 50%.
  • Antibodies of the present invention may act as agonists or antagonists of the polypeptides of the present invention.
  • the present invention includes antibodies which disrupt the receptor/ligand interactions with the polypeptides of the invention either partially or fully.
  • the invention features both receptor-specific antibodies and ligand-specific antibodies.
  • the invention also features receptor-specific antibodies which do not prevent ligand binding but prevent receptor activation.
  • Receptor activation i.e., signaling
  • receptor activation may be determined by techniques described herein or otherwise known in the art. For example, receptor activation can be determined by detecting the phosphorylation (e.g., tyrosine or serine/threonine) of the receptor or its substrate by immunoprecipitation followed by western blot analysis (for example, as described supra).
  • antibodies are provided that inhibit ligand or receptor activity by at least 90%o, at least 80%>, at least 70%>, at least 60%, or at least 50%) of the activity in absence of the antibody.
  • the invention also features receptor-specific antibodies which both prevent ligand binding and receptor activation as well as antibodies that recognize the receptor-ligand complex, and, preferably, do not specifically recognize the unbound receptor or the unbound ligand.
  • receptor-specific antibodies which both prevent ligand binding and receptor activation as well as antibodies that recognize the receptor-ligand complex, and, preferably, do not specifically recognize the unbound receptor or the unbound ligand.
  • neutralizing antibodies which bind the ligand and prevent binding of the ligand to the receptor, as well as antibodies which bind the ligand, thereby preventing receptor activation, but do not prevent the ligand from binding the receptor.
  • antibodies which activate the receptor are also act as receptor agonists, i.e., potentiate or activate either all or a subset of the biological activities of the ligand-mediated receptor activation.
  • the antibodies may be specified as agonists, antagonists or inverse agonists for biological activities comprising the specific biological activities of the peptides of the invention disclosed herein.
  • the invention further relates to antibodies which act as agonists or antagonists of the polypeptides of the present invention.
  • the above antibody agonists can be made using methods known in the art. See, e.g. , PCT publication WO 96/40281 ; U. S. Patent No. 5,811 ,097; Deng et ⁇ /., Blood 92(6): ⁇ 98 ⁇ - ⁇ 988 (1998); Chen et ⁇ /., Cancer Res. 58(16):3668-3618 (1998); Harrop et al, J. Immunol. 161(4): ⁇ 786- 1794 (1998); Zhu et al, Cancer Res. 58(15): 3209-3214 (1998);
  • Antibodies of the present invention may be used, for example, but not limited to, to purify, detect, and target the polypeptides of the present invention, including both in vitro and in vivo diagnostic and therapeutic methods.
  • the antibodies have use in immunoassays for qualitatively and quantitatively measuring levels of the polypeptides of the present invention in biological samples. See, e.g., Harlow et al, Antibodies: A Laboratory Manual, (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2nd ed. 1988) (incorporated by reference herein in its entirety).
  • the antibodies of the present invention may be used either alone or in combination with other compositions.
  • the antibodies may further be recombinantly fused to a heterologous polypeptide at the N- or C-terminus or chemically conjugated (including covalently and non-covalently conjugations) to polypeptides or other compositions.
  • antibodies of the present invention may be recombinantly fused or conjugated to molecules useful as labels in detection assays and effector molecules such as heterologous polypeptides, drugs, or toxins. See, e.g., PCT publications WO 92/08495; WO 91/14438; WO 89/12624; U.S. Patent No. 5,314,995; and EP 396,387.
  • the antibodies of the invention include derivatives that are modified, i.e, by the covalent attachment of any type of molecule to the antibody such that covalent attachment does not prevent the antibody from generating an anti-idiotypic response.
  • the antibody derivatives include antibodies that have been modified, e.g., by glycosylation, acetylation, pegylation, phosphorylation, amidation, derivatization by known protecting/blocking groups, proteolytic cleavage, linkage to a cellular ligand or other protein, etc. Any of numerous chemical modifications may be carried out by known techniques, including, but not limited to specific chemical cleavage, acetylation, formylation, metabolic synthesis of tunicamycin, etc. Additionally, the derivative may contain one or more non-classical amino acids.
  • the antibodies of the present invention may be generated by any suitable method known in the art.
  • Polyclonal antibodies to an antigen of interest can be produced by various procedures well known in the art.
  • a polypeptide of the invention can be administered to various host animals including, but not limited to, rabbits, mice, rats, etc. to induce the production of sera containing polyclonal antibodies specific for the antigen.
  • adjuvants may be used to increase the immunological response, depending on the host species, and include but are not limited to, Freund's (complete and incomplete), mineral gels such as aluminum hydroxide, surface active substances such as lysolecithin, pluronic polyols, polyanions, peptides, oil emulsions, keyhole limpet hemocyanins, dinitrophenol, and potentially useful human adjuvants suchasBCG (bacille Calmette-Guerin) and Corynebacterium parvum. Such adjuvants are also well known in the art.
  • Monoclonal antibodies can be prepared using a wide variety of techniques known in the art including the use of hybridoma, recombinant, and phage display technologies, or a combination thereof.
  • monoclonal antibodies can be produced using hybridoma techniques including those known in the art and taught, for example, in Harlow et al, Antibodies: A Laboratory Manual, (Cold
  • the term "monoclonal antibody” as used herein is not limited to antibodies produced through hybridoma technology.
  • the term “monoclonal antibody” refers to an antibody that is derived from a single clone, including any eukaryotic, prokaryotic, or phage clone, and not the method by which it is produced. Thus, the term “monoclonal antibody” is not limited to antibodies produced through hybridoma technology.
  • Monoclonal antibodies can be prepared using a wide variety of techniques known in the art including the use of hybridoma and recombinant and phage display technology.
  • mice can be immunized with a polypeptide of the invention or a cell expressing such peptide.
  • an immune response e.g., antibodies specific for the antigen are detected in the mouse serum
  • the mouse spleen is harvested and splenocytes isolated.
  • the splenocytes are then fused by well-known techniques to any suitable myeloma cells, for example cells from cell line SP20 available from the ATCC.
  • Hybridomas are selected and cloned by limited dilution.
  • hybridoma clones are then assayed by methods known in the art for cells that secrete antibodies capable of binding a polypeptide of the invention.
  • Ascites fluid which generally contains high levels of antibodies, can be generated by immunizing mice with positive hybridoma clones.
  • the present invention provides methods of generating monoclonal antibodies as well as antibodies produced by the method comprising culturing a hybridoma cell secreting an antibody of the invention wherein, preferably, the hybridoma is generated by fusing splenocytes isolated from a mouse immunized with an antigen of the invention with myeloma cells and then screening the hybridomas resulting from the fusion for hybridoma clones that secrete an antibody able to bind a polypeptide of the invention.
  • Antibody fragments that recognize specific epitopes may be generated by known techniques.
  • Fab and F(ab')2 fragments of the invention may be produced by proteolytic cleavage of immunoglobulin molecules, using enzymes such as papain (to produce Fab fragments) or pepsin (to produce F(ab')2 fragments).
  • F(ab')2 fragments contain the variable region, the light chain constant region and the CHI domain of the heavy chain.
  • the antibodies of the present invention can also be generated using various phage display methods known in the art.
  • phage display methods functional antibody domains are displayed on the surface of phage particles which carry the polynucleotide sequences encoding them.
  • phage can be utilized to display antigen-binding domains expressed from a repertoire or combinatorial antibody library (e.g., human or murine).
  • Phage expressing an antigen binding domain that binds the antigen of interest can be selected or identified with antigen, e.g., using labeled antigen or antigen bound or captured to a solid surface or bead.
  • Phage used in these methods are typically filamentous phage including fd and Ml 3 binding domains expressed from phage with Fab, Fv or disulfide stabilized Fv antibody domains recombinantly fused to either the phage gene III or gene VIII protein.
  • Examples of phage display methods that can be used to make the antibodies of the present invention include those disclosed in Brinkman et al, J. Immunol. Methods 752:41-50 (1995); Ames et al, J. Immunol. Methods 184: 111-186 (1995); Kettleborough et al, Eur. J. Immunol. 24:952-958 (1994); Persic et al, Gene 757:9-18 (1997); Burton et al. , Advances in Immunology 5? ': 191-280 (1994);
  • the antibody coding regions from the phage can be isolated and used to generate whole antibodies, including human antibodies, or any other desired antigen binding fragment, and expressed in any desired host, including mammalian cells, insect cells, plant cells, yeast, and bacteria, e.g., as described in detail below.
  • a chimeric antibody is a molecule in which different portions of the antibody are derived from different animal species, such as antibodies having a variable region derived from a murine monoclonal antibody and a human immunoglobulin constant region.
  • Methods for producing chimeric antibodies are known in the art. See, e.g., Morrison, Science 229: 1202 (1985); Oi et al, BioTechniques 4:214 (1986); Gillies et al, (1989) J. Immunol.
  • Humanized antibodies are antibody molecules from non-human species antibody that binds the desired antigen having one or more complementarity determining regions (CDRs) from the non-human species and framework regions from a human immunoglobulin molecule. Often, framework residues in the human framework regions will be substituted with the corresponding residue from the CDR donor antibody to alter, preferably improve, antigen binding.
  • CDRs complementarity determining regions
  • framework substitutions are identified by methods well known in the art, e.g., by modeling of the interactions of the CDR and framework residues to identify framework residues important for antigen binding and sequence comparison to identify unusual framework residues at particular positions.
  • Antibodies can be humanized using a variety of techniques known in the art including, for example, CDR-grafting (EP 239,400; PCT publication WO 91/09967; U.S. Patent Nos.
  • PatentNos.4,444,887 and4,716, l 11 and PCT publications WO 98/46645, WO 98/50433, WO 98/24893, WO 98/16654, WO 96/34096, WO 96/33735, and WO 91/10741; each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
  • Human antibodies can also be produced using transgenic mice which are incapable of expressing functional endogenous immunoglobulins, but which can express human immunoglobulin genes.
  • the human heavy and light chain immunoglobulin gene complexes may be introduced randomly or by homologous recombination into mouse embryonic stem cells.
  • the human variable region, constant region, and diversity region may be introduced into mouse embryonic stem cells in addition to the human heavy and light chain genes.
  • the mouse heavy and light chain immunoglobulin genes may be rendered non-functional separately or simultaneously with the introduction of human immunoglobulin loci by homologous recombination. In particular, homozygous deletion of the JH region prevents endogenous antibody production.
  • the modified embryonic stem cells are expanded and microinjected into blastocysts to produce chimeric mice.
  • the chimeric mice are then bred to produce homozygous offspring that express human antibodies.
  • the transgenic mice are immunized in the normal fashion with a selected antigen, e.g., all or a portion of a polypeptide of the invention.
  • Monoclonal antibodies directed against the antigen can be obtained from the immunized, transgenic mice using conventional hybridoma technology.
  • the human immunoglobulin transgenes harbored by the transgenic mice rearrange during B-cell differentiation, and subsequently undergo class switching and somatic mutation.
  • Completely human antibodies which recognize a selected epitope can be generated using a technique referred to as "guided selection.”
  • a selected non-human monoclonal antibody e.g., a mouse antibody, is used to guide the selection of a completely human antibody recognizing the same epitope. (Jespers et al, Bio/technology 72:899-903 (1988)).
  • antibodies to the polypeptides of the invention can, in turn, be utilized to generate anti-idiotype antibodies that "mimic" polypeptides of the invention using techniques well known to those skilled in the art. (See, e.g., Greenspan & Bona, FASEBJ. 7(5):431-444 (1989) and Nissinoff, J. Immunol. 147(8)2429-2438 (1991)).
  • antibodies which bind to and competitively inhibit polypeptide multimerization and/or binding of a polypeptide of the invention to a ligand can be used to generate anti-idiotypes that "mimic" the polypeptide multimerization and/or binding domain and, as a consequence, bind to and neutralize polypeptide and/or its ligand.
  • anti-idiotypes or Fab fragments of such anti-idiotypes can be used in therapeutic regimens to neutralize polypeptide ligand.
  • antibodies can be used to bind a polypeptide of the invention and/or to bind its ligands/receptors, and thereby block its biological activity.
  • the invention further provides polynucleotides comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding an antibody of the invention and fragments thereof.
  • the invention also encompasses polynucleotides that hybridize under stringent or lower stringency hybridization conditions, e.g., as defined supra, to polynucleotides that encode an antibody, preferably, that specifically binds to a polypeptide of the invention, preferably, an antibody that binds to a polypeptide having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ED NO:2.
  • the polynucleotides may be obtained, and the nucleotide sequence of the polynucleotides determined, by any method known in the art.
  • a polynucleotide encoding the antibody may be assembled from chemically synthesized oligonucleotides (e.g. , as described in Kutmeier et al, BioTechniques 17:242 (1994)), which, briefly, involves the synthesis of overlapping oligonucleotides containing portions of the sequence encoding the antibody, annealing and ligation of those oligonucleotides, and then amplification of the ligated oligonucleotides by PCR.
  • a polynucleotide encoding an antibody may be generated from nucleic acid from a suitable source. If a clone containing a nucleic acid encoding a particular antibody is not available, but the sequence of the antibody molecule is known, a nucleic acid encoding the immunoglobulin may be obtained from a suitable source (e.g., an antibody cDNA library, or a cDNA library generated from, or nucleic acid, preferably polyA+ RNA, isolated from, any tissue or cells expressing the antibody, such as hybridoma cells selected to express an antibody of the invention) by PCR amplification using synthetic primers hybridizable to the 3' and 5' ends of the sequence or by cloning using an oligonucleotide probe specific for the particular gene sequence to identify, e.g. , a cDNA clone from a cDNA library that encodes the antibody. Amplified nucleic acids generated by PCR may then be cloned
  • nucleotide sequence and corresponding amino acid sequence of the antibody may be manipulated using methods well known in the art for the manipulation of nucleotide sequences, e.g., recombinant DNA techniques, site directed mutagenesis, PCR, etc. (see, for example, the techniques described in Sambrook et al, 1990, Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual, 2d Ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY and Ausubel et al, eds., 1998,
  • the amino acid sequence of the heavy and/or light chain variable domains may be inspected to identify the sequences of the complementarity determining regions (CDRs) by methods that are well know in the art, e.g., by comparison to known amino acid sequences of other heavy and light chain variable regions to determine the regions of sequence hypervariability.
  • CDRs complementarity determining regions
  • one or more of the CDRs may be inserted within framework regions, e.g., into human framework regions to humanize a non-human antibody, as described supra.
  • the framework regions may be naturally occurring or consensus framework regions, and preferably human framework regions (see, e.g., Chothia et al, J. Mol. Biol. 278:451-419 (1998) for a listing of human framework regions).
  • the polynucleotide generated by the combination of the framework regions and CDRs encodes an antibody that specifically binds a polypeptide of the invention.
  • one or more amino acid substitutions may be made within the framework regions, and, preferably, the amino acid substitutions improve binding of the antibody to its antigen. Additionally, such methods may be used to make amino acid substitutions or deletions of one or more variable region cysteine residues participating in an intrachain disulfide bond to generate antibody molecules lacking one or more intrachain disulfide bonds. Other alterations to the polynucleotide are encompassed by the present invention and within the skill of the art.
  • a chimeric antibody is a molecule in which different portions are derived from different animal species, such as those having a variable region derived from a murine monoclonal antibody and a human immunoglobulin constant region, e.g., humanized antibodies.
  • Single chain antibodies are formed by linking the heavy and light chain fragments of the
  • Fv region via an amino acid bridge, resulting in a single chain polypeptide.
  • Techniques for the assembly of functional Fv fragments in E. coli may also be used (Skerra et al, 1988, Science 242: 1038- 1041).
  • the antibodies of the invention can be produced by any method known in the art for the synthesis of antibodies, in particular, by chemical synthesis or preferably, by recombinant expression techniques.
  • Recombinant expression of an antibody of the invention, or fragment, derivative or analog thereof, e.g., a heavy or light chain of an antibody of the invention requires construction of an expression vector containing a polynucleotide that encodes the antibody. Once a polynucleotide encoding an antibody molecule or a heavy or light chain of an antibody, or portion thereof
  • the vector for the production of the antibody molecule may be produced by recombinant DNA technology using techniques well known in the art.
  • methods for preparing a protein by expressing a polynucleotide containing an antibody encoding nucleotide sequence are described herein.
  • the invention provides replicable vectors comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding an antibody molecule of the invention, or a heavy or light chain thereof, or a heavy or light chain variable domain, operably linked to a promoter.
  • Such vectors may include the nucleotide sequence encoding the constant region of the antibody molecule (see, e.g., PCT Publication WO 86/05807; PCT Publication WO 89/01036; and U.S. PatentNo.
  • variable domain of the antibody may be cloned into such a vector for expression of the entire heavy or light chain.
  • the expression vector is transferred to a host cell by conventional techniques and the transfected cells are then cultured by conventional techniques to produce an antibody of the invention.
  • the invention includes host cells containing a polynucleotide encoding an antibody of the invention, or a heavy or light chain thereof, operably linked to a heterologous promoter.
  • vectors encoding both the heavy and light chains may be co-expressed in the host cell for expression of the entire immunoglobulin molecule, as detailed below.
  • a variety of host-expression vector systems may be utilized to express the antibody molecules of the invention.
  • Such host-expression systems represent vehicles by which the coding sequences of interest may be produced and subsequently purified, but also represent cells which may, when transformed or transfected with the appropriate nucleotide coding sequences, express an antibody molecule of the invention in situ.
  • These include but are not limited to microorganisms such as bacteria (e.g., E. coli, B.
  • subtilis transformed with recombinant bacteriophage DNA, plasmid DNA or cosmid DNA expression vectors containing antibody coding sequences; yeast (e.g., Saccharomyces, Pichia) transformed with recombinant yeast expression vectors containing antibody coding sequences; insect cell systems infected with recombinant virus expression vectors (e.g., baculovirus) containing antibody coding sequences; plant cell systems infected with recombinant virus expression vectors (e.g., cauliflower mosaic virus, CaMV; tobacco mosaic virus, TMV) or transformed with recombinant plasmid expression vectors (e.g., Ti plasmid) containing antibody coding sequences; or mammalian cell systems (e.g., COS, CHO, BHK, 293, 3T3 cells) harboring recombinant expression constructs containing promoters derived from the genome of mammalian cells (e.g., metallothionein promoter) or from mamm
  • bacterial cells such as Escherichia coli, and more preferably, eukaryotic cells, especially for the expression of whole recombinant antibody molecule, are used for the expression of a recombinant antibody molecule.
  • mammalian cells such as Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO), in conjunction with a vector such as the major intermediate early gene promoter element from human cytomegalovirus is an effective expression system for antibodies (Foecking et al, 1986, Gene 45: 101; Cockett et al, 1990, Bio/Technology 5:2).
  • a number of expression vectors may be advantageously selected depending upon the use intended for the antibody molecule being expressed.
  • vectors which direct the expression of high levels of fusion protein products that are readily purified may be desirable.
  • Such vectors include, but are not limited, to the E. coli expression vector pUR278 (Ruther et al. , 1983, EMBO J. 2: 1791), in which the antibody coding sequence may be ligated individually into the vector in frame with the lacZ coding region so that a fusion protein is produced; pEN vectors (Enouye & Enouye, 1985, Nucleic Acids Res.
  • pGEX vectors may also be used to express foreign polypeptides as fusion proteins with glutathione S-transferase (GST).
  • GST glutathione S-transferase
  • fusion proteins are soluble and can easily be purified from lysed cells by adsorption and binding to a matrix glutathione-agarose beads followed by elution in the presence of free glutathione.
  • the pGEX vectors are designed to include thrombin or factor Xa protease cleavage sites so that the cloned target gene product can be released from the GST moiety.
  • Autographa calif ornica nuclear polyhedrosis virus (AcNPV) is used as a vector to express foreign genes.
  • the virus grows in Spodoptera frugiperda cells.
  • the antibody coding sequence may be cloned individually into non-essential regions (for example the polyhedrin gene) of the virus and placed under control of an AcNPV promoter (for example the polyhedrin promoter).
  • a number of viral-based expression systems may be utilized.
  • the antibody coding sequence of interest may be ligated to an adenovirus transcription/translation control complex, e.g., the late promoter and tripartite leader sequence.
  • This chimeric gene may then be inserted in the adenovirus genome by in vitro or in vivo recombination. Insertion in a non- essential region of the viral genome (e.g. , region El or E3) will result in a recombinant virus that is viable and capable of expressing the antibody molecule in infected hosts, (e.g. , see Logan & Shenk, 1984, Proc. Natl.
  • Specific initiation signals may also be required for efficient translation of inserted antibody coding sequences. These signals include the ATG initiation codon and adjacent sequences. Furthermore, the initiation codon must be in phase with the reading frame of the desired coding sequence to ensure translation of the entire insert. These exogenous translational control signals and initiation codons can be of a variety of origins, both natural and synthetic. The efficiency of expression may be enhanced by the inclusion of appropriate transcription enhancer elements, transcription terminators, etc. (see Bittner et al, 1987, Methods in Enzymol. 753:51-544).
  • a host cell strain may be chosen which modulates the expression of the inserted sequences, or modifies and processes the gene product in the specific fashion desired. Such modifications (e.g., glycosylation) and processing (e.g., cleavage) of protein products may be important for the function of the protein.
  • Different host cells have characteristic and specific mechanisms for the post-translational processing and modification of proteins and gene products. Appropriate cell lines or host systems can be chosen to ensure the correct modification and processing of the foreign protein expressed.
  • eukaryotic host cells which possess the cellular machinery for proper processing of the primary transcript, glycosylation, and phosphorylation of the gene product may be used.
  • Such mammalian host cells include but are not limited to CHO, VERY, BHK, HeLa, COS, MDCK, 293, 3T3, WE38, and in particular, breast cancer cell lines such as, for example, BT483, Hs578T, HTB2, BT20 and T47D, and normal mammary gland cell line such as, for example, CRL7030 and Hs578Bst.
  • breast cancer cell lines such as, for example, BT483, Hs578T, HTB2, BT20 and T47D
  • normal mammary gland cell line such as, for example, CRL7030 and Hs578Bst.
  • cell lines which stably express the antibody molecule may be engineered.
  • host cells can be transformed with DNA controlled by appropriate expression control elements (e.g.
  • engineered cells may be allowed to grow for 1 -2 days in an enriched media, and then are switched to a selective media.
  • the selectable marker in the recombinant plasmid confers resistance to the selection and allows cells to stably integrate the plasmid into their chromosomes and grow to form foci which in turn can be cloned and expanded into cell lines.
  • This method may advantageously be used to engineer cell lines which express the antibody molecule.
  • Such engineered cell lines may be particularly useful in screening and evaluation of compounds that interact directly or indirectly with the antibody molecule.
  • a number of selection systems may be used, including but not limited to the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (Wigler et al, 1977, Cell 77:223), hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (Szybalska & Szybalski, 192, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 48:202), and adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (Lowy et al, 1980, Cell 22:817) genes can be employed in tk-, hgprt- or aprt- cells, respectively.
  • antimetabolite resistance can be used as the basis of selection for the following genes: dhfr, which confers resistance to methotrexate (Wigler et al, 1980, Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 77:357; O'Hare et al, 1981, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 78:1527); gpt, which confers resistance to mycophenolic acid (Mulligan & Berg, 1981, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 78:2072); neo, which confers resistance to the aminoglycoside G-418 Clinical Pharmacy 12:488-505;
  • the expression levels of an antibody molecule can be increased by vector amplification (for a review, see Bebbington and Hentschel, The use of vectors based on gene amplification for the expression of cloned genes in mammalian cells in DNA cloning, Vol. 3. (Academic Press, New York, 1987)).
  • vector amplification for a review, see Bebbington and Hentschel, The use of vectors based on gene amplification for the expression of cloned genes in mammalian cells in DNA cloning, Vol. 3. (Academic Press, New York, 1987)).
  • a marker in the vector system expressing antibody is amplifiable
  • increase in the level of inhibitor present in culture of host cell will increase the number of copies of the marker gene. Since the amplified region is associated with the antibody gene, production of the antibody will also increase (Crouse et al, 1983, Mol.
  • the host cell may be co-transfected with two expression vectors of the invention, the first vector encoding a heavy chain derived polypeptide and the second vector encoding a light chain derived polypeptide.
  • the two vectors may contain identical selectable markers which enable equal expression of heavy and light chain polypeptides.
  • a single vector may be used which encodes both heavy and light chain polypeptides. In such situations, the light chain should be placed before the heavy chain to avoid an excess of toxic free heavy chain (Proudfoot, 1986, Nature 322:52; Kohler, 1980, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 77:2197).
  • the coding sequences for the heavy and light chains may comprise cDNA or genomic DNA.
  • an antibody molecule of the invention may be purified by any method known in the art for purification of an immunoglobulin molecule, for example, by chromatography (e.g., ion exchange, affinity, particularly by affinity for the specific antigen after Protein
  • the present invention encompasses antibodies recombinantly fused or chemically conjugated (including both covalently and non-covalently conjugations) to a polypeptide (or portion thereof, preferably at least 10, 20 or
  • the antibodies may be specific for antigens other than polypeptides (or portion thereof, preferably at least 10, 20 or 50 amino acids of the polypeptide) of the present invention.
  • antibodies may be used to target the polypeptides of the present invention to particular cell types, either in vitro or in vivo, by fusing or conjugating the polypeptides of the present invention to antibodies specific for particular cell surface receptors.
  • Antibodies fused or conjugated to the polypeptides of the present invention may also be used in in vitro immunoassays and purification methods using methods known in the art.
  • the present invention further includes compositions comprising the polypeptides of the present invention fused or conjugated to antibody domains other than the variable regions.
  • the polypeptides of the present invention may be fused or conjugated to an antibody Fc region, or portion thereof.
  • the antibody portion fused to a polypeptide of the present invention may comprise the constant region, hinge region, CHI domain, CH2 domain, and
  • polypeptides may also be fused or conjugated to the above antibody portions to form multimers.
  • Fc portions fused to the polypeptides of the present invention can form dimers through disulfide bonding between the Fc portions.
  • Higher multimeric forms can be made by fusing the polypeptides to portions of IgA and IgM. Methods for fusing or conjugating the polypeptides of the present invention to antibody portions are known in the art. See, e.g., U. S. PatentNos.
  • polypeptides of the present invention may be fused or conjugated to the above antibody portions to increase the in vivo half life of the polypeptides or for use in immunoassays using methods known in the art. Further, the polypeptides of the present invention may be fused or conjugated to the above antibody portions to facilitate purification.
  • One reported example describes chimeric proteins consisting of the first two domains of the human CD4-polypeptide and various domains of the constant regions of the heavy or light chains of mammalian immunoglobulins. (EP 394,827; Traunecker et al. , Nature 331 : 84-86 (1988).
  • polypeptides of the present invention fused or conjugated to an antibody having disulfide- linked dimeric structures may also be more efficient in binding and neutralizing other molecules, than the monomeric secreted protein or protein fragment alone.
  • the Fc part in a fusion protein is beneficial in therapy and diagnosis, and thus can result in, for example, improved pharmacokinetic properties.
  • EP A 232,262 Alternatively, deleting the Fc part after the fusion protein has been expressed, detected, and purified, would be desired.
  • the Fc portion may hinder therapy and diagnosis if the fusion protein is used as an antigen for immunizations.
  • human proteins such as hIL-5 receptor
  • Fc portions for the purpose of high-throughput screening assays to identify antagonists of hIL-5.
  • the antibodies or fragments thereof of the present invention can be fused to marker sequences, such as a peptide to facilitates their purification.
  • the marker amino acid sequence is a hexa-histidine peptide, such as the tag provided in a pQE vector (QIAGEN, Inc., 9259 Eton Avenue, Chatsworth, CA, 91311), among others, many of which are commercially available.
  • a pQE vector QIAGEN, Inc., 9259 Eton Avenue, Chatsworth, CA, 91311)
  • hexa-histidine provides for convenient purification of the fusion protein.
  • Other peptide tags useful for purification include, but are not limited to, the "HA" tag, which corresponds to an epitope derived from the influenza hemagglutinin protein (Wilson et al, Cell 37:161
  • the present invention further encompasses antibodies or fragments thereof conjugated to a diagnostic or therapeutic agent.
  • the antibodies can be used diagnostically to, for example, monitor the development or progression of a tumor as part of a clinical testing procedure to, e.g. , determine the efficacy of a given treatment and/or prevention regimens. Detection can be facilitated by coupling the antibody to a detectable substance. Examples of detectable substances include various enzymes, prosthetic groups, fluorescent materials, luminescent materials, bioluminescent materials, radioactive materials, positron emitting metals using various positron emission tomographies, and nonradioactive paramagnetic metal ions. See, for example, U.S. Patent No.
  • suitable enzymes include horseradish peroxidase, alkaline phosphatase, ⁇ -galactosidase, or acetylcholinesterase;
  • suitable prosthetic group complexes include streptavidin/biotin and avidin/biotin;
  • suitable fluorescent materials include umbelliferone, fluorescein, fluorescein isothiocyanate, rhodamine, dichlorotriazinylamine fluorescein, dansyl chloride or phycoerythrin;
  • an example of a luminescent material includes luminol;
  • bioluminescent materials include luciferase, luciferin, and aequorin;
  • suitable radioactive material include 125 I, 131 I, U1 ⁇ n or "Tc.
  • an antibody or fragment thereof may be conjugated to a therapeutic moiety such as a cytotoxin, e.g., a cytostatic or cytocidal agent, a therapeutic agent or a radioactive metal ion.
  • a cytotoxin or cytotoxic agent includes any agent that is detrimental to cells.
  • Examples include paclitaxol, cytochalasin B, gramicidin D, ethidium bromide, emetine, mitomycin, etoposide, tenoposide, vincristine, vinblastine, colchicin, doxorubicin, daunorubicin, dihydroxy anthracin dione, mitoxantrone, mithramycin, actinomycin D, 1 -dehydrotestosterone, glucocorticoids, procaine, tetracaine, lidocaine, propranolol, and puromycin and analogs or homologs thereof.
  • Therapeutic agents include, but are not limited to, antimetabolites (e.g., methotrexate, 6-mercaptopurine, 6-thioguanine, cytarabine, 5-fluorouracil decarbazine), alkylating agents (e.g., mechlorethamine, thioepa chlorambucil, melphalan, carmustine (BSNU) and lomustine (CCNU), cyclothosphamide, busulfan, dibromomannitol, streptozotocin, mitomycin C, and c/s-dichlorodiamine platinum (II) (DDP) cisplatin), anthracyclines (e.g., daunorubicin (formerly daunomycin) and doxorubicin), antibiotics (e.g., dactinomycin (formerly actinomycin), bleomycin, mithramycin, and anthramycin (AMC)), and anti-mitotic agents (e.g
  • the conjugates of the invention can be used for modifying a given biological response, the therapeutic agent or drug moiety is not to be construed as limited to classical chemical therapeutic agents.
  • the drug moiety may be a protein or polypeptide possessing a desired biological activity.
  • Such proteins may include, for example, a toxin such as abrin, ricin A, pseudomonas exotoxin, or diphtheria toxin; a protein such as tumor necrosis factor, a-interferon, ⁇ -interferon, nerve growth factor, platelet derived growth factor, tissue plasminogen activator, a thrombotic agent or an anti-angiogenic agent, e.g., angiostatin or endostatin; or, biological response modifiers such as, for example, lymphokines, interleukin-1 ("EL-1 "), interleukin-2 (“EL-2”), interleukin-6 (“IL-6”), granulocyte macrophase colony stimulating factor
  • a toxin such as abrin, ricin A, pseudomonas exotoxin, or diphtheria toxin
  • a protein such as tumor necrosis factor, a-interferon, ⁇ -interferon, nerve growth factor, platelet derived growth factor, tissue plasminogen
  • GM-CSF granulocyte colony stimulating factor
  • G-CSF granulocyte colony stimulating factor
  • Antibodies may also be attached to solid supports, which are particularly useful for immunoassays or purification of the target antigen.
  • solid supports include, but are not limited to, glass, cellulose, polyacrylamide, nylon, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride or polypropylene.
  • an antibody can be conjugated to a second antibody to form an antibody heteroconjugate as described by Segal in U. S. Patent No. 4,676,980, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
  • An antibody, with or without a therapeutic moiety conjugated to it, administered alone or in combination with cytotoxic factor(s) and/or cytokine(s) can be used as a therapeutic.
  • the antibodies of the invention may be assayed for immunospecific binding by any method known in the art.
  • the immunoassays which can be used include but are not limited to competitive and non-competitive assay systems using techniques such as western blots, radioimmunoassays, ELISA (enzyme linked immunosorbent assay), "sandwich” immunoassays, immunoprecipitation assays, precipitin reactions, gel diffusion precipitin reactions, immunodiffusion assays, agglutination assays, complement-fixation assays, immunoradiometric assays, fluorescent immunoassays, protein A immunoassays, to name but a few.
  • Immunoprecipitation protocols generally comprise lysing a population of cells in a lysis buffer such as RIP A buffer (1% NP-40 or Triton X-100, 1% sodium deoxycholate, 0.1% SDS, 0.15 M NaCl, 0.01 M sodium phosphate at pH 7.2, 1% Trasylol) supplemented with protein phosphatase and/or protease inhibitors (e.g.
  • the antibody of interest to the cell lysate, incubating for a period of time (e.g., 1-4 hours) at 4° C, adding protein A and/or protein G sepharose beads to the cell lysate, incubating for about an hour or more at 4° C, washing the beads in lysis buffer and resuspending the beads in SDS/sample buffer.
  • a period of time e.g., 1-4 hours
  • protein A and/or protein G sepharose beads to the cell lysate, incubating for about an hour or more at 4° C
  • washing the beads in lysis buffer and resuspending the beads in SDS/sample buffer e.g., western blot analysis.
  • Western blot analysis generally comprises preparing protein samples, electrophoresis of the protein samples in a polyacrylamide gel (e.g., 8%-20%> SDS-PAGE depending on the molecular weight of the antigen), transferring the protein sample from the polyacrylamide gel to a membrane such as nitrocellulose, PVDF or nylon, blocking the membrane in blocking solution (e.g. ,
  • washing buffer e.g., PBS-Tween 20
  • primary antibody the antibody of interest
  • secondary antibody which recognizes the primary antibody, e.g., an anti-human antibody
  • an enzymatic substrate e.g., horseradish peroxidase or alkaline phosphatase
  • radioactive molecule e.g. , 32 P or 125 I
  • ELISAs comprise preparing antigen, coating the well of a 96 well microtiter plate with the antigen, adding the antibody of interest conjugated to a detectable compound such as an enzymatic substrate (e.g., horseradish peroxidase or alkaline phosphatase) to the well and incubating for a period of time, and detecting the presence of the antigen.
  • a detectable compound such as an enzymatic substrate (e.g., horseradish peroxidase or alkaline phosphatase)
  • a detectable compound such as an enzymatic substrate (e.g., horseradish peroxidase or alkaline phosphatase)
  • a second antibody conjugated to a detectable compound may be added following the addition of the antigen of interest to the coated well.
  • ELISAs see, e.g., Ausubel etal, eds, 1994, Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, Vol. 1, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York at 11.2.1.
  • the binding affinity of an antibody to an antigen and the off-rate of an antibody-antigen interaction can be determined by competitive binding assays.
  • a competitive binding assay is a radioimmunoassay comprising the incubation of labeled antigen (e.g. , 3 H or 125 I) with the antibody of interest in the presence of increasing amounts of unlabeled antigen, and the detection of the antibody bound to the labeled antigen.
  • labeled antigen e.g. , 3 H or 125 I
  • the affinity of the antibody of interest for a particular antigen and the binding off-rates can be determined from the data by scatchard plot analysis.
  • Competition with a second antibody can also be determined using radioimmunoassays.
  • the antigen is incubated with antibody of interest is conjugated to a labeled compound (e.g., 3 H or 125 I) in the presence of increasing amounts of an unlabeled second antibody.
  • the present invention is further directed to antibody-based therapies which involve administering antibodies of the invention to an animal, preferably a mammal, and most preferably a human, patient for treating and/or preventing one or more of the disorders or conditions described herein.
  • Therapeutic compounds of the invention include, but are not limited to, antibodies of the invention (including fragments, analogs and derivatives thereof as described herein) and nucleic acids encoding antibodies of the invention (including fragments, analogs and derivatives thereof as described herein).
  • DR5 receptors are believed to induce programmed cell death by a process which involves the association/cross-linking of death domains between different receptor molecules.
  • DR5 ligands e.g., TRAEL
  • agents e.g., antibodies
  • agents which prevent association cross-linking of DR5 death domains will prevent DR5 mediated programmed cell death
  • agents e.g., antibodies
  • agents which facilitate the association/cross-linking of DR5 death domains will induce DR5 mediated programmed cell death.
  • DR5 receptors have been shown to bind TRAEL.
  • DR5 receptors are also known to be present in a number of tissues and on the surfaces of a number of cell types. These tissues and cell types include primary dendritic cells, endothelial tissue, spleen, lymphocytes of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and human thymus stromal cells.
  • TRAIL has been shown to induce apoptosis and to inhibit the growth of tumor cells in vivo. Additionally, TRAEL activities are believed to be modulated, at least in part, through interaction with DR4 and DR5 receptors.
  • TRAEL is a member of the TNF family of cytokines which has been shown to induce apoptotic cell death in a number of tumor cell lines and appears to mediate its apoptosis inducing effects through interaction with DR4 and DR5 receptors. These death domain containing receptors are believed to form membrane-bound self-activating signaling complexes which initiate apoptosis through cleavage of caspases.
  • TRAEL In addition to DR4 and DR5 receptors, TRAEL also binds to several receptors proposed to be "decoy" receptors, DcR2 (a receptor with a truncated death domain), DcRl (a GPI-anchored receptor), and OPG (a secreted protein which binds to another member of the TNF family, RANKL).
  • DcR2 a receptor with a truncated death domain
  • DcRl a GPI-anchored receptor
  • OPG a secreted protein which binds to another member of the TNF family, RANKL.
  • the DR4 and DR5 receptor genes have been shown to be located on human chromosome 8p21-22. Further, this region of the human genome is frequently disrupted in head and neck cancers.
  • FaDu nasopharyngeal cancer cell line contains an abnormal chromosome 8p21-22 region.
  • a homozygous deletion involving DR4, but not DR5 has been found in these cells.
  • the homozygous loss within the DR4 receptor gene in these FaDu cells encompasses the DR4 receptor death domain. This disruption of the DR4 receptor death domain is associated with resistance to TRAEL-mediated cytotoxicity.
  • DR4 cytoplasmic domain overexpression has also been shown to result in cleavage of both poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and a DNA fragmentation factor (i.e., ICAD-DFF45).
  • PARP poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase
  • ICAD-DFF45 DNA fragmentation factor
  • cytoplasmic domains of the DR4 and DR5 receptors are useful as agents for inducing apoptosis, for example, in cancer cells.
  • DR4 receptors are also involved in the regulation of cell cycle progression.
  • similar results are expected with the DR5 receptor.
  • the DR4 and DR5 receptors, as well as agonists and antagonists of these receptors, are useful for regulating cell cycle progression.
  • Antibodies which bind to DR5 receptors are useful for treating and/or preventing diseases and conditions associated with increased or decreased DR5-induced apoptotic cells death.
  • these antibodies vary in the effect they have on DR5 receptors. These effects differ based on the specific portions of the DR5 receptor to which the antibodies bind, the three-dimensional conformation of the antibody molecules themselves, and/or the manner in which they interact with the DR5 receptor. Thus, antibodies which bind to the extracellular domain of a DR5 receptor can either stimulate or inhibit DR5 activities (e.g., the induction of apoptosis).
  • Antibodies which stimulate DR5 receptor activities are DR5 agonists
  • antibodies which inhibit DR5 receptor activities are DR5 antagonists.
  • Antibodies of the invention which function as agonists and antagonists of DR5 receptors include antigen-binding antibody fragments such as Fab and F(ab') 2 fragments, Fd, single-chain Fvs (scFv), disulfide-linked Fvs (sdFv) and fragments comprising either a V L or V H domain, as well as polyclonal, monoclonal and humanized antibodies. Divalent antibodies are preferred as agonists. Each of these antigen-binding antibody fragments and antibodies are described in more detail elsewhere herein.
  • antibodies of the invention are useful for stimulating DR5 death domain activity to promote apoptosis in cells which express DR5 receptors (e.g., cancer cells).
  • Antibodies of this type are useful for prevention and/or treating diseases and conditions associated with increased cell survival and/or insensitivity to apoptosis-inducing agents (e.g., TRAIL), such as solid tissue cancers (e.g., skin cancer, head and neck tumors, breast tumors, endothelioma, lung cancer, osteoblastoma, osteoclastoma, and Kaposi's sarcoma) and leukemias.
  • apoptosis-inducing agents e.g., TRAIL
  • Antagonists of the invention function by preventing DR5 mediated apoptosis and are useful for preventing and/or treating diseases associated with increased apoptotic cell death.
  • diseases include diabetes mellitus, AEDS, neurodegenerative disorders, myelodysplastic syndromes, ischemic injury, toxin-induced liver disease, septic shock, cachexia and anorexia.
  • DR5 receptors are present on the surfaces of T-cells.
  • agonists of the invention are also useful for inhibiting T-cell mediated immune responses, as well as preventing and/or treating diseases and conditions associated with increased T-cell proliferation.
  • Diseases and conditions associated with T-cell mediated immune responses and increased T-cell proliferation include graft-v-host responses and diseases, osteoarthritis, psoriasis, septicemia, inflammatory bowel disease, inflammation in general, autoimmune diseases, and T-cell leukemias.
  • an agonist of the invention When an agonist of the invention is administered to an individual for the treatment and/or prevention of a disease or condition associated with increased T-cell populations or increased cell proliferation (e.g., cancer), the antagonist may be co-administered with another agent which induces apoptosis (e.g., TRAEL) or otherwise inhibits cell proliferation (e.g., an anti-cancer drug).
  • TRAEL apoptosis
  • an anti-cancer drug e.g., an anti-cancer drug.
  • Combination therapies of this nature, as well as other combination therapies, are discussed below in more detail.
  • antagonists of the invention e.g., anti-DR5 receptor antibodies
  • Antibodies of the invention which block the binding of DR5 receptor ligands to DR5 receptors or interfere with DR5 receptor conformational changes associated with membrane signal transduction can inhibit DR5 mediated T-cell apoptosis.
  • the inhibition of DR5 mediated apoptosis can, for examples, either result in an increase in the expansion rate of in vivo T-cell populations or prevent a decrease in the size of such populations.
  • antagonists of the invention can be used to prevent and/or treat diseases or conditions associated with decreased or decreases in T-cell populations.
  • AEDS acquired immune deficiency syndrome
  • related afflictions e.g., AIDS related complexes
  • T-cell immunodeficiencies e.g., radiation sickness
  • T-cell depletion due to radiation and/or chemotherapy e.g., radiation sickness
  • an antagonist of the invention When an antagonist of the invention is administered to an individual for the treatment and/or prevention of a disease or condition associated with decreased T-cell populations, the antagonist may be co-administered with an agent which activates and/or induces lymphocyte proliferation (e.g., a cytokine).
  • lymphocyte proliferation e.g., a cytokine
  • agonists and antagonists of the invention are also useful when administered alone or in combination with another therapeutic agent for either inhibiting or enhancing B-cell mediated immune responses, as well as preventing and/or treating diseases and conditions associated with increased or decreased B-cell proliferation.
  • Anti-DR5 antibodies are thus useful for treating and/or preventing malignancies, abnormalities, diseases and/or conditions involving tissues and cell types which express DR5 receptors (e.g., endothelial cells). Further, malignancies, abnormalities, diseases and/or conditions which can be treated and/or prevented by the induction of programmed cell death in cells which express DR5 receptors can be treated and/or prevented using DR5 receptor agonists of the invention. Similarly, malignancies, abnormalities, diseases and/or conditions which can be treated and/or prevented by inhibiting programmed cell death in cells which express DR5 receptors can be treated and/or prevented using DR5 receptor antagonists of the invention.
  • DR5 receptors e.g., endothelial cells
  • antibodies of the invention are useful for stimulating DR5 death domain activity in endothelial cells, resulting in anti-angiogenic activity.
  • Antibodies of this type are useful for prevention and/or treating diseases and conditions associated with hypervascularization and neovascularization, such as rheumatoid arthritis and solid tissue cancers (e.g., skin cancer, head and neck tumors, breast tumors, endothelioma, osteoblastoma, osteoclastoma, and Kaposi's sarcoma), as well as diseases and conditions associated with chronic inflammation.
  • diseases and conditions associated with hypervascularization and neovascularization such as rheumatoid arthritis and solid tissue cancers (e.g., skin cancer, head and neck tumors, breast tumors, endothelioma, osteoblastoma, osteoclastoma, and Kaposi's sarcoma), as well as diseases and conditions associated with chronic inflammation.
  • agonists of the invention can inhibit the formation of blood and lymph vessels and, thus, can be used to prevent and/or treat diseases and conditions associated with hypervascularization and neovascularization.
  • diseases and conditions associated with angiogenesis which can be prevented and/or treated using agonists of the invention include hypertrophic and keloid scarring, proliferative diabetic retinopathy, arteriovenous malformations, atherosclerotic plaques, hemophilic joints, nonunion fractures, Osier-Weber syndrome, psoriasis, pyogenic granuloma, scleroderma, tracoma, menorrhagia, and vascular adhesions.
  • agents which inhibit DR5 death domain activity are also useful for preventing and/or treating a number of diseases and conditions associated with decreased vascularization.
  • antagonists of DR5 receptor activity include anti-DR5 receptor antibodies. These antibodies can function, for examples, by either binding to DR5 receptors and blocking the binding of ligands which stimulate DR5 death domain activity (e.g., TRAEL) or inhibiting DR5 receptor conformational changes associated with membrane signal transduction.
  • Antagonists of the invention can thus prevent and/or inhibit apoptosis from occurring in endothelial cells at wound sites and thereby promote wound healing in healing impaired individuals, as well as in individuals who heal at "normal" rates.
  • antagonists of the invention can be used to promote and/or accelerate wound healing.
  • Antagonists of the invention are also useful for treating and/or preventing other diseases and conditions including restenosis, myocardial infarction, peripheral arterial disease, critical limb ischemia, angina, atherosclerosis, ischemia, edema, liver cirrhosis, osteoarthritis, and pulmonary fibrosis.
  • antibodies of the present invention may be used therapeutically in a number of ways.
  • antibodies which bind polynucleotides or polypeptides of the present invention can be administered to an individual (e.g., a human) either locally or systemically. Further, these antibodies can be administered alone, in combination with another therapeutic agent, or associated with or bound to a toxin.
  • Anti-DR5 antibodies may be utilized in combination with other monoclonal or chimeric antibodies, or with lymphokines, tumor necrosis factors or TNF-related molecules (e.g., TNF- ⁇ , TNF- ⁇ , TNF- ⁇ - , TNF- ⁇ - ⁇ , and TRAEL), or hematopoietic growth factors (e.g., EL-2, EL-3 and IL-7).
  • TNF- ⁇ , TNF- ⁇ , TNF- ⁇ - , TNF- ⁇ - , TNF- ⁇ - ⁇ , and TRAEL e.g., TNF- ⁇ , TNF- ⁇ , TNF- ⁇ - ⁇ , and TRAEL
  • hematopoietic growth factors e.g., EL-2, EL-3 and IL-7
  • agonistic anti-DR5 antibodies may be administered in conjunction with TRAEL when one seeks to induce DR5 mediated cell death in cells which express DR5 receptors of the invention.
  • the antibodies of the invention may be administered alone or in combination with other types of treatments (e.g., radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, immunotherapy and anti-tumor agents). Generally, administration of products of a species origin or species reactivity (in the case of antibodies) that is the same species as that of the patient is preferred.
  • human antibodies, fragments derivatives, analogs, or nucleic acids are administered to a human patient for therapy or prophylaxis.
  • polypeptides or polynucleotides of the present invention It is preferred to use high affinity and/or potent in vivo inhibiting and/or neutralizing antibodies against polypeptides or polynucleotides of the present invention, fragments or regions thereof, for both immunoassays directed to and therapy of disorders related to polynucleotides or polypeptides, including fragments thereof, of the present invention.
  • Such antibodies, fragments, or regions will preferably have an affinity for polynucleotides or polypeptides, including fragments thereof.
  • Preferred binding affinities include those with a dissociation constant or Kd less than 5X10 "6 M, 10 "6 M, 5X10 "7 M, 10 _7 M, 5X10 " M, 10 “8 M, 5X10 "9 M, 10 "9 M, 5X10 "10 M, 10- I0 M, 5X10- n M, 10 'n M, 5X10 "12 M, 10 "12 M, 5X10 "13 M, 10 "13 M, 5X10 "14 M, 10 "14 M, 5X10 "15 M, and 10 "15 M.
  • the present invention also relates to diagnostic assays such as quantitative and diagnostic assays for detecting levels of DR5 protein, or the soluble form thereof, in cells and tissues, including determination of normal and abnormal levels.
  • diagnostic assays such as quantitative and diagnostic assays for detecting levels of DR5 protein, or the soluble form thereof, in cells and tissues, including determination of normal and abnormal levels.
  • a diagnostic assay in accordance with the invention for detecting over-expression of DR5, or soluble form thereof, compared to normal control tissue samples may be used to detect the presence of tumors, for example.
  • Assay techniques that can be used to determine levels of a protein, such as a DR5 protein of the present invention, or a soluble form thereof, in a sample derived from a host are well-known to those of skill in the art.
  • Such assay methods include radioimmunoassays, competitive-binding assays,
  • Assaying DR5 protein levels in a biological sample can occur using any art-known method.
  • biological sample is intended any biological sample obtained from an individual, cell line, tissue culture, or other source containing DR5 receptor protein or mRNA.
  • Preferred for assaying DR5 protein levels in a biological sample are antibody-based techniques.
  • DR5 protein expression in tissues can be studied with classical immunohistological methods. (Jalkanen, M. et al, ./. Cell. Biol. 707:976-985 (1985); Jalkanen, M. et al, J. Cell. Biol. 105:3081-3096 (1987)).
  • Other antibody-based methods useful for detecting DR5 protein gene expression include immunoassays, such as the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the radioimmunoassay (RIA).
  • ELISA enzyme linked immunosorbent assay
  • RIA radioimmunoassay
  • Suitable labels are known in the art and include enzyme labels, such as glucose oxidase, radioisotopes, such as iodine ( 125 I, 121 I), carbon ( 14 C), sulphur
  • fluorescent labels such as fluorescein and rhodamine, and biotin.
  • Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) family ligands are known to be among the most pleiotropic cytokines, inducing a large number of cellular responses, including cytotoxicity, anti-viral activity, immunoregulatory activities, and the transcriptional regulation of several genes (Goeddel, D.V. et al, "Tumor Necrosis Factors: Gene Structure and Biological Activities," Symp. Quant. Biol. 57:597-609 (1986), Cold Spring Harbor; Beutler, B., and Cerami, A.,Annu. Rev. Biochem. 57:505-518 (1988); Old, L.J., Sci. Am. 255:59-75 (1988); Fiers, W.,
  • TNF-family ligands induce such various cellular responses by binding to TNF-family receptors, including the DR5 of the present invention.
  • DR5 polynucleotides, polypeptides, agonists and/or antagonists of the invention may be administered to a patient (e.g., mammal, preferably human) afflicted with any disease or disorder mediated (directly or indirectly) by defective, or deficient levels of, DR5.
  • a gene therapy approach may be applied to treat and/or prevent such diseases or disorders.
  • DR5 polynucleotide sequences are used to detect mutein DR5 genes, including defective genes. Mutein genes may be identified in in vitro diagnostic assays, and by comparison of the DR5 nucleotide sequence disclosed herein with that of a DR5 gene obtained from a patient suspected of harboring a defect in this gene. Defective genes may be replaced with normal DR5-encoding genes using techniques known to one skilled in the art.
  • the DR5 polypeptides, polynucleotides, agonists and/or antagonists of the present invention are used as research tools for studying the phenotypic effects that result from inhibiting TRAEL/DR5 interactions on various cell types.
  • DR5 polypeptides and antagonists e.g. monoclonal antibodies to DR5
  • in vitro assays for detecting TRAEL or DR5 or the interactions thereof. It has been reported that certain ligands of the TNF family (of which
  • TRAIL is a member) bind to more than one distinct cell surface receptor protein.
  • a receptor protein designated DR4 reportedly binds TRAEL, but is distinct from the DR5 of the present invention (Pan et al, Science 276: 111-113, (1997); hereby incorporated by reference).
  • a purified DR5 polypeptide, agonist and/or antagonist is used to inhibit binding of TRAEL to endogenous cell surface TRAEL.
  • soluble DR5 polypeptides of the present invention may be employed to inhibit the interaction of TRAEL not only with cell surface DR5, but also with TRAEL receptor proteins distinct from DR5.
  • DR5 polynucleotides, polypeptides, agonists and/or antagonists of the invention are used to inhibit a functional activity of TRAEL, in in vitro or in vivo procedures.
  • DR5 By inhibiting binding of TRAEL to cell surface receptors, DR5 also inhibits biological effects that result from the binding of TRAEL to endogenous receptors.
  • Various forms of DR5 may be employed, including, for example, the above-described DR5 fragments, derivatives, and variants that are capable of binding TRAEL.
  • a soluble DR5 is employed to inhibit a functional activity of TRAIL, e.g.
  • DR5 is administered to a mammal (e.g., a human) to treat and/or prevent a TRAEL-mediated disorder.
  • TRAEL-mediated disorders include conditions caused (directly or indirectly) or exacerbated by TRAIL.
  • Cells which express the DR5 polypeptide and are believed to have a potent cellular response to DR5 ligands include primary dendritic cells, endothelial tissue, spleen, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and human thymus stromal cells.
  • a cellular response to a TNF-family ligand is intended any genotypic, phenotypic, and/or morphologic change to a cell, cell line, tissue, tissue culture or patient that is induced by a TNF-family ligand.
  • such cellular responses include not only normal physiological responses to TNF- family ligands, but also diseases associated with increased apoptosis or the inhibition of apoptosis.
  • Apoptosis (programmed cell death) is a physiological mechanism involved in the deletion of peripheral T lymphocytes of the immune system, and its dysregulation can lead to a number of different pathogenic processes (Ameisen, J.C., AIDS 5: 1197-1213 (1994); Krammer, P.H. et al, Curr. Opin. Immunol. 6:219-289 (1994)).
  • Diseases associated with increased cell survival, or the inhibition of apoptosis, that may be treated, prevented, diagnosed and/or prognosed with the DR5 polynucleotides, polypeptides and/or agonists or antagonists of the invention include, but are not limited to, include cancers (such as follicular lymphomas, carcinomas with p53 mutations, and hormone-dependent tumors including, but not limited to colon cancer, cardiac tumors, pancreatic cancer, melanoma, retinoblastoma, glioblastoma, lung cancer, intestinal cancer, testicular cancer, stomach cancer, neuroblastoma, myxoma, myoma, lymphoma, endothelioma, osteoblastoma, osteoclastoma, osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, adenoma, breast cancer, prostate cancer, Kaposi's sarcoma and ovarian cancer); autoimmune disorders (such as, multiple sclerosis, Sjogren'
  • DR5 polynucleotides, polypeptides, and/or antagonists of the invention are used to inhibit growth, progression, and/or metastasis of cancers, in particular those listed above.
  • Additional diseases or conditions associated with increased cell survival that may be treated, prevented, diagnosed and/or prognosed with the DR5 polynucleotides, polypeptides and/or agonists or antagonists of the invention include, but are not limited to, progression, and/or metastases of malignancies and related disorders such as leukemia (including acute leukemias (e.g., acute lymphocytic leukemia, acute myelocytic leukemia (including myeloblastic, promyelocytic, myelomonocytic, monocytic, and erythroleukemia)) and chronic leukemias (e.g., chronic myelocytic (granulocytic) leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia)), polycythemiavera, lymphomas (e.g., Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's disease), multiple myeloma, Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia, heavy chain disease, and solid tumors including
  • Diseases associated with increased apoptosis that may be treated, prevented, diagnosed and/or prognosed with the DR5 polynucleotides, polypeptides and/or agonists or antagonists of the invention include, but are not limited to, AEDS; neurodegenerative disorders (such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Retinitis pigmentosa, Cerebellar degeneration and brain tumor or prior associated disease); autoimmune disorders (such as, multiple sclerosis, Sjogren's syndrome, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, biliary cirrhosis, Behcet's disease, Crohn's disease, polymyositis, systemic lupus erythematosus and immune-related glomerulonephritis and rheumatoid arthritis) myelodysplastic syndromes (such as aplastic anemia), graft v.
  • AEDS neurodegenerative disorders
  • neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's
  • DR5 polynucleotides, polypeptides and/or agonists are used to treat and/or prevent the diseases and disorders listed above.
  • a method for treating and/or preventing HEV + individuals involves administering DR5, DR5 antagonists, and/or DR5 agonists of the present invention to reduce selective killing of CD4 + T-lymphocytes.
  • Modes of administration and dosages are discussed in detail below.
  • the immune system of the recipient animal has not previously been primed to respond because the immune system for the most part is only primed by environmental antigens. Tissues from other members of the same species have not been presented in the same way that, for example, viruses and bacteria have been presented.
  • immunosuppressive regimens are designed to prevent the immune system from reaching the effector stage.
  • the immune profile of xenograft rejection may resemble disease recurrence more than allograft rejection.
  • the immune system has already been activated, as evidenced by destruction of the native islet cells. Therefore, in disease recurrence the immune system is already at the effector stage.
  • Agonists of the present invention are able to suppress the immune response to both allografts and xenografts because lymphocytes activated and differentiated into effector cells will express the DR5 polypeptide, and thereby are susceptible to compounds which enhance apoptosis.
  • the present invention further provides a method for creating immune privileged tissues.
  • DR5 antagonists or agonists of the invention may be useful for treating and/or preventing inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, psoriasis, septicemia, and inflammatory bowel disease.
  • inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, psoriasis, septicemia, and inflammatory bowel disease.
  • soluble DR5 agonist or antagonist mABs may be used to treat and/or prevent this form of cancer.
  • soluble DR5 or neutralizing mABs may be used to treat and/or prevent various chronic and acute forms of inflammation such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, psoriasis, septicemia, and inflammatory bowel disease.
  • Polynucleotides and/or polypeptides of the invention and/or agonists and/or antagonists thereof are useful in the diagnosis, prognosis, treatment and/or prevention of a wide range of diseases and/or conditions.
  • diseases and conditions include, but are not limited to, cancer (e.g., immune cell related cancers, breast cancer, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, follicular lymphoma, glioblastoma, cancer associated with mutation or alteration of p53, brain tumor, bladder cancer, uterocervical cancer, colon cancer, colorectal cancer, non-small cell carcinoma of the lung, small cell carcinoma of the lung, stomach cancer, etc.), lymphoproliferative disorders (e.g., cancer (e.g., immune cell related cancers, breast cancer, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, follicular lymphoma, glioblastoma, cancer associated with mutation or alteration of p53, brain tumor, bladder cancer, uterocervical cancer, colon cancer, colorec
  • lymphadenopathy and lymphomas e.g. , Hodgkin's disease
  • microbial infection e.g., viral, bacterial, etc.
  • HEV-1 infection e.g., HEV-2 infection
  • herpesvirus infection including, but not limited to,
  • HSV-1, HSV-2, CMV, VZV, HHV-6, HHN-7, EBV adenovirus infection
  • poxvirus infection human papilloma virus infection
  • hepatitis infection e.g., HAN, HBV, HCV, etc.
  • Helicobacter pylori infection invasive Staphylococcia, etc.
  • parasitic infection nephritis, bone disease (e.g., osteoporosis), atherosclerosis, pain, cardiovascular disorders (e.g., neovascularization, hypovascularization or reduced circulation (e.g., ischemic disease (e.g., myocardial infarction, stroke, etc.)), AIDS, allergy, inflammation, neurodegenerative disease (e.g., Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, pigmentary retinitis, cerebellar degeneration, etc.), graft rejection (acute and chronic), graft vs.
  • osteomyelodysplasia e.g., aplastic anemia, etc.
  • liver disease e.g., acute and chronic hepatitis, liver injury, and cirrhosis
  • autoimmune disease e.g., multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, immune complex glomerulonephritis, autoimmune diabetes, autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura, Grave's disease, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, inflammatory autoimmune diseases, etc.
  • cardiomyopathy e.g, dilated cardiomyopathy
  • diabetes diabetic complications (e.g., diabetic nephropathy, diabetic neuropathy, diabetic retinopathy), influenza, asthma, psoriasis, osteomyelitis, glomerulonephritis, septic shock, and ulcerative colitis.
  • Polynucleotides and/or polypeptides of the invention and/or agonists and/or antagonists thereof are useful in promoting regulating hematopoiesis, regulating (e.g., promoting) angiogenesis, wound healing (e.g., wounds, burns, and bone fractures), and regulating bone formation.
  • DR5 polynucleotides or polypeptides, or agonists of DR5 can be used in the treatment and/or prevention of infectious agents. For example, by increasing the immune response, particularly increasing the proliferation and differentiation of B-cells in response to an infectious agent, infectious diseases may be treated and/or prevented.
  • the immune response may be increased by either enhancing an existing immune response, or by initiating a new immune response.
  • DR5 polynucleotides or polypeptides, or agonists or antagonists of DR5 may also directly inhibit the infectious agent, without necessarily eliciting an immune response.
  • Viruses are one example of an infectious agent that can cause disease or symptoms that can be treated and/or prevented by DR5 polynucleotides or polypeptides, or agonists of DR5.
  • viruses include, but are not limited to the following DNA and RNA viruses and viral families: arbovirus, adenoviridae, arenaviridae, arterivirus, birnaviridae, bunyaviridae, caliciviridae, circoviridae, coronaviridae, Dengue virus, HIV-1, HIV-2, flaviviridae, hepadnaviridae (e.g., hepatitis B virus), herpesviridae (e.g., cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2, varicella-zoster virus, Epstein-Barr virus (EB V), herpes B virus, and human herpesviruses 6, 7, and 8), morbillivirus, rhabdoviridae (e.g., rabies virus), orthomyxoviridae (e.g., influenza A virus, and influenza B), paramyxoviridae (e.g., parainfluenza virus),
  • viruses and virus families can cause a variety of diseases or symptoms, including, but not limited to: arthritis, bronchiollitis, respiratory diseases, encephalitis, eye infections (e.g., conjunctivitis, keratitis), chronic fatigue syndrome, hepatitis (A, B, C, E, Chronic Active, Delta), Japanese B encephalitis, Junin, Chikungunya, Rift Valley fever, yellow fever, meningitis, smallpox, opportunistic infections (e.g., AEDS, Kaposi's sarcoma), pneumonia, Burkitt's lymphoma, chickenpox, zoster, hemorrhagic fever, measles, mumps, parainfluenza, rabies, the common cold, polio, leukemia, rubella, sexually transmitted diseases, skin diseases (e.g., Kaposi's, warts), and viremia.
  • arthritis bronchiollitis, respiratory diseases, encephalitis,
  • DR5 polynucleotides or polypeptides, or agonists or antagonists of DR5 can be used to treat, prevent, and/or detect any of these symptoms or diseases.
  • DR5 polynucleotides, polypeptides, or agonists are used to treat and/or prevent: meningitis, Dengue, EBV, and/or hepatitis.
  • DR5 polynucleotides, polypeptides, or agonists are used to treat patients non-responsive to one or more other commercially available hepatitis vaccines.
  • DR5 polynucleotides, polypeptides, or agonists are used to treat AEDS.
  • bacteria and fungi that can cause disease or symptoms and that can be treated and/or prevented by DR5 polynucleotides or polypeptides, or agonists or antagonists of DR5 include, but are not limited to the following organisms.
  • Bacteria include, but are not limited to Actinomyces, Bacillus (e.g., B. anthracis), Bacteroides, Bordetella, Barf one lla, Borrelia (e.g., B.
  • Leptospira Listeria, Mycobacteria (e.g., M. leprae and M. tuberculosis), Mycoplasma, Neisseria (e.g., N. gonorrheae and N. meningitidis), Neorickettsia, Nocardia, Pasteurella, Peptococcus, Peptostreptococcus, Pneumococcus, Proteus, Pseudomonas, Rickettsia, Rochalimaea, Salmonella ( e -g . S. typhimurium and S. typhi), Seratia, Shigella, Staphylococcus (e.g., S.
  • Fungi include, but are not limited to: Absidia, Acremonium, Alternaria, Aspergillus, Basidiobolus, Bipolaris, Blastomyces, Candida (e.g. , C. albicans), Coccidioides, Conidiobolus, Cryptococcus (e.g. , C.
  • Trichosporon Trichosporon, and Xylohypha.
  • bacteria or fungi can cause diseases or symptoms including, but not limited to: bacteremia, endocarditis, eye infections (conjunctivitis, uveitis), gingivitis, opportunistic infections (e.g., AEDS related infections), paronychia, prosthesis-related infections, Reiter's Disease, respiratory tract infections, such as whooping cough or emphysema, sepsis,
  • Lyme Disease cat-scratch disease, dysentery, paratyphoid fever, food poisoning, typhoid, pneumonia, gonorrhea, meningitis, chlamydia, syphilis, diphtheria, leprosy, paratuberculosis, tuberculosis, lupus, botulism, gangrene, tetanus, impetigo, rheumatic fever, scarlet fever, sexually transmitted diseases, skin diseases (e.g., cellulitis, dermatocycoses), toxemia, urinary tract infections, and wound infections.
  • skin diseases e.g., cellulitis, dermatocycoses
  • DR5 polynucleotides or polypeptides, or agonists or antagonists of DR5 can be used to treat, prevent and/or detect any of these symptoms or diseases.
  • DR5 polynucleotides, polypeptides, or agonists thereof are used to treat and/or prevent: tetanus, diphtheria, botulism, and/or meningitis type B.
  • parasites causing parasitic diseases or symptoms that can be treated and/or prevented by DR5 polynucleotides or polypeptides, or agonists of DR5 include, but are not limited to: protozoan parasites including, but not limited to, Babesia, Balantidium, Besnoitia, Cryptosporidium, Eimeria, Encephalitozoon, Entamoeba, Giardia, Hammondia, Hepatozoon, Isospora,
  • Plasmodium e.g., Plasmodium virax, Plasmodium falciparium, Plasmodium malariae and Plasmodium ovale
  • Pneumocystis Sarcocystis
  • Schistosoma Theileria, Toxop/asma, and Trypanosoma
  • helminth parasites including, but not limited to, Acanthocheilonema, Aelurostrongylus, Ancylostoma, Angiostrongylus, Ascaris, Brugia, Bunostomum, Capillaria, Chabertia, Cooperia, Crenosoma, Dictyocaulus, Dioctophyme, Dipetalonema, Diphyllobothrium, Diplydium, Dirofilaria, Dracunculus, Enterobius, Filaroides, Haemonchus, Lagochila
  • Parafilaria Paragonimus, Parascaris, Physaloptera, Protostrongylus, Setaria, Spirocerca, Spirometra, Stephanofilaria, Strongyloides, Strongylus, Thelazia, Toxascaris, Toxocara, Trichinella, Trichostrongylus, Trichuris, Uncinaria, and Wuchereria.
  • DR5 polynucleotides or polypeptides, or agonists or antagonists of DR5 can be used to treat, prevent and/or detect any of these symptoms or diseases.
  • DR5 polynucleotides, polypeptides, or agonists thereof are used to treat and/or prevent malaria.
  • Polynucleotides and/or polypeptides of the invention and/or agonists and/or antagonists thereof are also useful as a vaccine adjuvant to enhance immune responsiveness to specific antigen, tumor-specific, and/or anti-viral immune responses.
  • compositions of the invention include virus and virus associated diseases or symptoms described herein or otherwise known in the art.
  • the compositions of the invention are used as an adjuvant to enhance an immune response to a virus, disease, or symptom selected from the group consisting of: AEDS, meningitis, Dengue, EBV, and hepatitis (e.g., hepatitis B).
  • compositions of the invention are used as an adjuvant to enhance an immune response to a virus, disease, or symptom selected from the group consisting of: HIV/ AEDS, Respiratory syncytial virus, Dengue, Rotavirus, Japanese B encephalitis, Influenza A and B, Parainfluenza, Measles, Cytomegalovirus, Rabies, Junin, Chikungunya, Rift Valley fever, Herpes simplex virus, and yellow fever.
  • Anti-bacterial or anti-fungal immune responses that may be enhanced using the compositions of the invention as an adjuvant, include bacteria or fungus and bacteria or fungus associated diseases or symptoms described herein or otherwise known in the art.
  • compositions of the invention are used as an adjuvant to enhance an immune response to a bacteria or fungus, disease, or symptom selected from the group consisting of: tetanus, diphtheria, botulism, and meningitis type B.
  • the compositions of the invention are used as an adjuvant to enhance an immune response to a bacteria selected from the group consisting of: Vibrio cholerae, Mycobacterium leprae, Salmonella typhi, Salmonella paratyphi, Neisseria meningitidis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Group B streptococcus, Shigella spp . , enterotoxigenic E. coli, enterohemorrhagic E. coli, and Borrelia burgdorferi.
  • compositions of the invention include parasite and parasite associated diseases or symptoms described herein or otherwise known in the art.
  • the compositions of the invention are used as an adjuvant to enhance an immune response to a parasite.
  • the compositions of the invention are used as an adjuvant to enhance an immune response to Plasmodium spp. (malaria).
  • DR5 polynucleotides and/or polypeptides of the invention and/or agonists and/or antagonists thereof are useful in regulating (/ ' . e. , elevating or reducing) immune response.
  • polynucleotides and/or polypeptides of the invention may be useful in preparation or recovery from surgery, trauma, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and transplantation.
  • polynucleotides and/or polypeptides of the invention may be may be used to boost immune response and/or accelerate recovery in the elderly and immunocompromised individuals, or as an agent that elevates the immune status of an individual prior to their receipt of immunosuppressive therapies.
  • polynucleotides and/or polypeptides of the invention may be useful as an agent to induce higher affinity antibodies, or to increase serum immunoglobulin concentrations.
  • DR5 polynucleotides and/or polypeptides of the invention and/or agonists thereof may be used as an immune system enhancer prior to, during, or after bone marrow transplant and/or other transplants (e.g., allogenic or xenogenic organ transplantation).
  • compositions of the invention may be administered prior to, concomitant with, and/or after transplantation.
  • compositions of the invention are administered after transplantation, prior to the beginning of recovery of T-cell populations.
  • compositions of the invention are first administered after transplantation after the beginning of recovery of T-cell populations, but prior to full recovery of B-cell populations.
  • DR5 polynucleotides and/or polypeptides of the invention and/or agonists thereof may be used as an agent to boost immunoresponsiveness among B-cell immunodeficient individuals.
  • B-cell immunodeficiencies that may be ameliorated or treated and/or prevented by administering the DR5 polypeptides or polynucleotides of the invention, or agonists thereof, include, but are not limited to, severe combined immune deficiency (SCED), congenital agammaglobulinemia, common variable immunodeficiency, Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome, and X-linked immunodeficiency with hyper IgM.
  • SCED severe combined immune deficiency
  • congenital agammaglobulinemia common variable immunodeficiency
  • Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome and X-linked immunodeficiency with hyper IgM.
  • DR5 polynucleotides and/or polypeptides of the invention and/or agonists thereof may be used as an agent to boost immunoresponsiveness among individuals having an acquired loss of B-cell function.
  • Conditions resulting in an acquired loss of B-cell function that may be ameliorated, treated, and/or prevented by administering the DR5 polypeptides or polynucleotides of the invention, or agonists thereof, include, but are not limited to, HEV Infection, AIDS, bone marrow transplant, and B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
  • CLL B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia
  • DR5 polynucleotides and/or polypeptides of the invention and/or agonists thereof may be used as an agent to boost immunoresponsiveness among individuals having a temporary immune deficiency.
  • Conditions resulting in a temporary immune deficiency that may be ameliorated, treated, and/or prevented by administering the DR5 polypeptides or polynucleotides of the invention, or agonists thereof, include, but are not limited to, recovery from viral infections (e.g., influenza), conditions associated with malnutrition, recovery from infectious mononucleosis, or conditions associated with stress, recovery from measles, recovery from blood transfusion, recovery from surgery.
  • viral infections e.g., influenza
  • DR5 polynucleotides and/or polypeptides of the invention and/or agonists thereof may also be used as a regulator of antigen presentation by monocytes, dendritic cells, and/or B-cells.
  • DR5 in soluble, membrane- bound or transmembrane forms enhances antigen presentation or antagonizes antigen presentation in vitro or in vivo.

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Abstract

Cette invention se rapporte à de nouvelles protéines du récepteur 5 contenant le domaine de l'apoptose (DR5), qui font partie de la famille des récepteurs du facteur de nécrose tumoral (TNF) et dont on a démontré qu'elles se lient à la molécule TRAIL. Cette invention concerne en particulier des molécules d'acide nucléique codant ces protéines DR5 humaines, des polypeptides de DR5, ainsi que des vecteurs, des cellules hôtes et des procédés de recombinaison pour produire ces polypeptides. Cette invention se rapporte également à des procédés de criblage permettant d'identifier des agonistes et des antagonistes de l'activité de DR5.
EP00930329A 1999-05-04 2000-05-04 Recepteur 5 contenant le domaine de l'apoptose Withdrawn EP1196191A4 (fr)

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WO2000066156A1 (fr) 2000-11-09
CA2369371A1 (fr) 2000-11-09
WO2000066156A8 (fr) 2001-07-26
EP1196191A4 (fr) 2004-03-24
JP2002543151A (ja) 2002-12-17
AU4817200A (en) 2000-11-17

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