JP4633491B2 - Antibodies targeting osteoclast-related proteins - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a substance useful as a therapeutic and / or preventive agent for abnormal bone metabolism, a screening method for a substance useful as a therapeutic and / or preventive agent for abnormal bone metabolism, a method for examining abnormal bone metabolism, and abnormal bone metabolism. The present invention relates to a method for treating or preventing symptom.

  Bone is known as a dynamic organ that constantly remodels and resorbs itself to maintain its own morphological changes and blood calcium levels. In normal bone, bone formation by osteoblasts and bone resorption by osteoclasts are in an equilibrium relationship, and the bone mass is kept constant. On the other hand, when the balance between bone formation and bone resorption is disrupted, bone metabolism abnormalities such as osteoporosis occur (for example, see Non-Patent Document 1 or Non-Patent Document 2).

  A number of systemic hormones and local cytokines have been reported as factors that regulate bone metabolism, and the formation and maintenance of bone is carried out by the joint action of these factors (for example, Non-Patent Document 1 or Non-patent Document 1). (See Patent Document 3). Osteoporosis is widely known as a change in bone tissue due to aging, but the mechanism of its onset is a decrease in sex hormone secretion and its receptor abnormality, aging gene expression, osteoclast and osteoblast differentiation or It is difficult to understand as a physiological phenomenon due to aging due to a variety of dysfunctions. Osteoporosis is broadly divided into postmenopausal osteoporosis due to decreased estrogen secretion and senile osteoporosis due to aging. In order to elucidate the onset mechanism and develop therapeutic agents, the basics of bone resorption and bone formation regulation Progress in research is essential.

  Osteoclasts are multinucleated cells derived from hematopoietic stem cells, and acidify the gap between the cells and the bone adhesion surface by releasing chloride ions and hydrogen ions to the bone adhesion surface (for example, non-patent literature). 4). As a result, decomposition of calcium phosphate and activation of acidic protease are caused, and bone resorption proceeds.

  It has become clear that osteoclast progenitors differentiate into osteoclasts upon stimulation with RANKL (Receptor activator of NF-κB ligand) expressed on the cell membrane of osteoblasts / stromal cells on the bone surface. (For example, see Non-Patent Document 5 or Non-Patent Document 6). RANKL is a membrane-bound factor produced by osteoblasts / stromal cells whose expression is regulated by bone resorption factor and that RANKL induces differentiation from osteoclast precursor cells to multinucleated osteoclasts Etc. were clarified (for example, see Non-Patent Document 5 or Non-Patent Document 7). Furthermore, it was found that a mouse in which RANKL was knocked out developed typical marble disease, and it was proved that RANKL is a physiological osteoclast differentiation inducing factor (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 8). .

Drugs to treat bone-related diseases and shorten the treatment period include bisphosphonate, active vitamin D ₃ , calcitonin and its derivatives, hormone preparations such as estradiol, SERMs (Selective estrogen receptor modulators), ipriflavone, vitamin K ₂ (menatetrenone) ) And calcium preparations are used. However, these drugs are not always satisfactory in treatment results, and development of drugs with higher therapeutic effects has been desired.

  Dendritic cells (hereinafter referred to as “DCs”) are specialized antigen-presenting cells of the immune system and are scattered throughout the body. Dendritic cell-specific transmembrane protein (hereinafter referred to as “DC-STAMP”) was cloned from a monocyte-derived DC cDNA library as a protein that penetrates the cell membrane of dendritic cells. It is a protein (for example, refer nonpatent literature 9). One type of DC-STAMP cDNA has been reported in humans so far (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 10), and in mice, a long sequence containing a third exon (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 11), Two types of splice variants with short 3 exons (for example, see Non-Patent Document 12) have been reported. The amino acid sequence homology between human-derived DC-STAMP and mouse-derived DC-STAMP is about 74%. From the results of the hydrophobicity analysis of the amino acid sequence, it is estimated that DC-STAMP has seven transmembrane domains. The splice variant with a short third exon in the mouse is considered to lack the seventh transmembrane domain, and is hereinafter referred to as DC-STAMPΔT7.

Regarding DC-STAMP, there is a report that its expression increases when inactivated mononuclear phagocytic cells with IL-4, and conversely decreases when inactivated with dexamethasone (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 13). The relationship between DC-STAMP and osteoclast differentiation has not been clarified.

"Endocrinological Review" 1992 13: p66-80 “Principles of Bone Biology” (Academic Press, New York) 1996 p87-102 "Endocrinological Review" 1996 17: 308-332 `` American Journal of Physiology '' 1991 260: C1315-C1324 “Procedings of the National Academy of Science of the Uited States of America” 1998 95: 3597-3602 `` Cell '' 1998 93: 165-176 "Journal of Bone and Mineral Research" 1998 23: S222 `` Nature '' 1999 397: 315-323 "European Journal of Immunology" 2000 30: 3585-3590 "GenBank" Accession Number: NM_030788 "GenBank" Accession No .: AB109560 "GenBank" Accession No .: AB109561 `` Immunogenetics '' 2001 53: 105-113

  The object of the present invention is a gene that is specifically expressed in various bone metabolism abnormalities such as bone destruction, such as osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and bone metastasis of cancer cells, a substance that inhibits osteoclast activity, It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel method for testing a preventive or therapeutic agent for abnormal bone metabolism, and a substance that inhibits the activity of osteoclasts, a prophylactic agent and / or therapeutic agent for abnormal bone metabolism.

The present inventors aimed to elucidate the functions of osteoclast differentiation, maturation and activation for the purpose of searching for substances having therapeutic and / or preventive effects on bone metabolism disorders. The present inventors have found that it is involved in the differentiation, maturation and activation of bone cells and found that suppression of DC-STAMP expression suppresses the differentiation of osteoclasts.
That is, the present invention
(1) an antibody that specifically binds to DC-STAMP and suppresses osteoclast formation;
(2) selected from the group consisting of a protein consisting of the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 in the sequence listing, a protein consisting of the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 4 and a protein consisting of the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 6 in the sequence listing An antibody that specifically binds to at least one protein that inhibits osteoclast formation,
(3) The antibody according to (1) or (2), which is a monoclonal antibody,
(4) The antibody according to any one of (1) to (3), which is humanized,
(5) The antibody according to any one of (1) to (4), which is a fully human antibody,
(6) The antibody according to any one of (1) to (5), which is an IgG antibody,
(7) A method for detecting abnormal bone metabolism, comprising the following steps 1) to 4):
1) A step of extracting a total RNA fraction from a sample collected from a subject;
2) A step of extracting a total RNA fraction from a sample collected from a normal person;
3) A step of measuring the expression level of the polynucleotide according to any one of the following a) or b) in the total RNA fraction derived from the above step 1) and the total RNA fraction derived from the above step 2);
a) a polynucleotide comprising the nucleotide sequence shown in at least one of SEQ ID NOs: 1, 3 and 5 in the Sequence Listing,
b) a polynucleotide that hybridizes under stringent conditions with a polynucleotide comprising a nucleotide sequence complementary to the polynucleotide described in a) above;
4) The difference in the expression level of the polynucleotide measured in the above step 3) between the total RNA fraction derived from the above step 1) and the total RNA fraction derived from the above step 2) is analyzed, and the above step 1) A step of detecting an abnormal bone metabolism of the subject described in
(8) A method for detecting abnormal bone metabolism, including the following steps 1) to 3):
1) A step of measuring the expression level of a protein comprising an amino acid sequence shown in at least one of SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4 and 6 in the sequence listing in a sample collected from a subject;
2) a step of measuring the expression level of at least any one protein described in the above step 1) in a sample collected from a normal person;
3) analyzing the difference between the expression level of the protein detected in the above step 1) and the expression level of the protein measured in the above step 2) to detect abnormal bone metabolism in the subject;
(9) The method according to (7) or (8), wherein the abnormal bone metabolism is osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis and / or cancerous hypercalcemia,
(10) The method according to (7) or (8), wherein the abnormal bone metabolism is osteoporosis,
(11) The method according to (7) or (8), wherein the abnormal bone metabolism is rheumatoid arthritis,
(12) The method according to (7) or (8), wherein the abnormal bone metabolism is cancerous hypercalcemia,
(13) The method for measuring the expression level of the polynucleotide is Northern blotting, dot blotting, slot blotting, RT-PCR, ribonuclease protection assay or run-on assay, (7), ( 9) The method according to any one of (12),
(14) The method for measuring the expression level of a polynucleotide uses a gene chip or array made of a DNA comprising a complementary DNA group derived from a specimen or a partial sequence of each DNA of the DNA group, 7) and the method according to any one of (9) to (12),
(15) The method according to any one of (8) to (12), wherein the method for measuring the expression level of a protein uses an antibody or a ligand that specifically binds to the protein.
(16) The method according to (8) to (12), wherein the protein expression level is measured by Western blotting, dot blotting, slot blotting, or solid-phase enzyme immunoassay (ELISA). A method according to any one of the following:
(17) A kit for detecting abnormal bone metabolism, comprising at least one selected from the group consisting of 1) to 3) below:
1) A continuous oligonucleotide primer having a length of 15 to 30 bases for specifically amplifying a polynucleotide comprising the nucleotide sequence shown in at least one of SEQ ID NOs: 1, 3 and 5 in the sequence listing;
2) 15 or more nucleotides for hybridizing under stringent conditions to a polynucleotide comprising the nucleotide sequence shown in at least one of SEQ ID NOs: 1, 3 and 5 in the sequence listing and detecting the polynucleotide A continuous polynucleotide probe;
3) a solid-phased sample to which a polynucleotide comprising a nucleotide sequence represented by at least one of SEQ ID NOs: 1, 3 and 5 in the sequence listing is fixed;
(18) Kit for detecting abnormal bone metabolism comprising the following 1) and 2):
1) an antibody that specifically binds to a protein comprising the amino acid sequence shown in at least one of SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4, and 6 in the sequence listing and detects the protein;
2) a secondary antibody capable of binding to the antibody described in 1) above,
(19) The kit according to (17) or (18), wherein the abnormal bone metabolism is osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis or cancerous hypercalcemia,
(20) The kit according to (17) or (18), wherein the abnormal bone metabolism is osteoporosis,
(21) The kit according to (17) or (18), wherein the abnormal bone metabolism is rheumatoid arthritis,
(22) The kit according to (17) or (18), wherein the abnormal bone metabolism is cancerous hypercalcemia,
(23) A pharmaceutical composition for treating bone metabolism abnormality, comprising at least one of the antibodies according to (1) to (6),
(24) At least one of the antibodies described in (1) to (6), bisphosphonate, active vitamin D ₃ , calcitonin and derivatives thereof, hormone preparations such as estradiol, SERMs (selective estrogen receptor modulators), Ipriflavone, vitamin K ₂ (menatetrenone), calcium preparation, PTH (parathyroid hormone) preparation, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent, anti-TNFα antibody, anti-PTHrP (parathyroid hormone-related protein) antibody, IL-1 receptor antagonist, anti-RANKL antibody And at least one selected from the group consisting of OCIF (osteoclastogenesis inhibitory factor), a pharmaceutical composition for the treatment of abnormal bone metabolism,
(25) A pharmaceutical composition for the treatment of abnormal bone metabolism comprising an oligonucleotide having a nucleotide sequence complementary to any one of the nucleotide sequences shown in SEQ ID NOs: 1, 3 and 5 in the sequence listing or a partial sequence of the sequence ,
(26) The pharmaceutical composition according to any one of (23) to (25), wherein the abnormal bone metabolism is osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis or cancerous hypercalcemia,
(27) The pharmaceutical composition according to any one of (23) to (25), wherein the abnormal bone metabolism is osteoporosis,
(28) The pharmaceutical composition according to any one of (23) to (25), wherein the abnormal bone metabolism is rheumatoid arthritis,
(29) The pharmaceutical composition according to any one of (23) to (25), wherein the abnormal bone metabolism is cancerous hypercalcemia,
(30) A screening method for a substance having a therapeutic effect and / or a preventive effect on abnormal bone metabolism, comprising the following steps 1) to 4):
1) A step of extracting a total RNA fraction from cultured cells derived from mammals cultured in a medium to which a test substance is added;
2) A step of extracting a total RNA fraction from cultured mammalian cells cultured without adding a test substance:
3) a step of measuring the expression level of the polynucleotide according to any one of the following or a partial polynucleotide thereof in the total RNA fraction derived from step 1) and the total RNA fraction derived from step 2);
At least one selected from the group consisting of a polynucleotide consisting of the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 1 in the sequence listing, a polynucleotide consisting of the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 3 and a polynucleotide consisting of the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 5 A single polynucleotide,
4) Analyzing the difference in the expression level of the polynucleotide measured by the above step 3) between the total RNA fraction derived from the above step 1) and the total RNA fraction derived from the above step 2), Determining a therapeutic effect and / or a preventive effect on abnormal bone metabolism,
(31) A screening method for a substance having a therapeutic effect and / or a preventive effect on abnormal bone metabolism, comprising the following steps 1) to 4):
1) A step of extracting a total RNA fraction from a sample collected from a mammal individual administered with a test substance;
2) A step of extracting a total RNA fraction from a sample collected from a mammal individual not administered the test substance;
3) a step of measuring the expression level of the polynucleotide according to any one of the following or a partial polynucleotide thereof in the total RNA fraction derived from step 1) and the total RNA fraction derived from step 2);
At least one selected from the group consisting of a polynucleotide consisting of the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 1 in the sequence listing, a polynucleotide consisting of the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 3 and a polynucleotide consisting of the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 5 A single polynucleotide,
4) The difference in the expression level of the polynucleotide measured in the above step 3) between the total RNA fraction derived from the above step 1) and the total RNA fraction derived from the above step 2) is analyzed, and the bone of the test substance Determining a therapeutic effect and / or a preventive effect on metabolic disorders,
(32) A screening method for a substance having a therapeutic effect and / or a preventive effect on abnormal bone metabolism, comprising the following steps 1) to 3):
1) A step of measuring the expression level of the protein or partial polypeptide thereof according to any one of the following in a cultured cell derived from a mammal cultured in a medium to which a test substance is added;
At least one selected from the group consisting of a protein consisting of the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 in the sequence listing, a protein consisting of the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 4 and a protein consisting of the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 6. protein,
2) Detection of the expression level of the protein according to any one of the above steps 1) in a cultured cell derived from a mammal cultured in a medium to which no test substance is added, using an antibody or a ligand that specifically binds to the protein. The step of:
3) Analyzing the difference between the expression level of the protein detected in the above step 1) and the expression level of the protein detected in the above step 2) to determine the therapeutic effect and / or the preventive effect on bone metabolism abnormality of the test substance. Determining step,
(33) A screening method for a substance having a therapeutic effect and / or a preventive effect on abnormal bone metabolism, comprising the following steps 1) to 3):
1) a step of measuring the expression level of the protein or partial polypeptide thereof according to any one of the following in a sample collected from a mammal individual administered with a test substance;
At least one selected from the group consisting of a protein consisting of the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 in the sequence listing, a protein consisting of the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 4 and a protein consisting of the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 6. protein,
2) a step of measuring the expression level of the protein or partial polypeptide thereof according to any one of the above steps 1) in a sample collected from a mammal individual who has not been administered the test substance;
3) Analyzing the difference between the expression level of the protein detected in the above step 1) and the expression level of the protein detected in the above step 2) to determine the therapeutic effect and / or the preventive effect on bone metabolism abnormality of the test substance. Determining step,
(34) The method for measuring the expression level of the polynucleotide is Northern blotting, dot blotting, slot blotting, RT-PCR, ribonuclease protection assay or run-on assay, (30) or ( 31)
(35) The method for measuring the expression level of a polynucleotide uses a gene chip or array made of a DNA consisting of a complementary DNA group derived from animal tissue or animal cells or a partial sequence of each DNA of the DNA group. The method according to (30) or (31),
(36) The method according to (32) or (33), wherein the method for measuring the expression level of a protein uses an antibody or a ligand that specifically binds to the protein.
Consists of.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the preventive agent and / or therapeutic agent of a bone metabolism abnormality which use inhibition of the activity of an osteoclast can be obtained.

In the present invention, “hybridize under stringent conditions” means that hybridization is performed at 68 ° C. in a commercially available hybridization solution ExpressHyb Hybridization Solution (Clontech) or a DNA-immobilized filter is used. After hybridization at 68 ° C. in the presence of 0.7-1.0 M NaCl, 0.1-2 fold concentration of SSC solution (1 fold concentration SSC consists of 150 mM NaCl, 15 mM sodium citrate) It means to hybridize under conditions that can be identified by washing at 68 ° C. or equivalent conditions.

1. DC-STAMP
We have found that DC-STAMP is specifically expressed in giant cell tumors. The present inventors have also found that the expression level of DC-STAMP increases when monocyte-derived cell lines differentiate into osteoclasts.

  DC-STAMP used in the present invention is derived from monocyte cells, tree cells or bone marrow cells of humans or non-human mammals (eg, guinea pigs, rats, mice, chickens, rabbits, pigs, sheep, cows, monkeys, etc.). It can be used directly after purification, or it can be used by preparing the cell membrane fraction of the above cells, or by synthesizing DC-STAMP in vitro or producing it in a host cell by genetic manipulation. Obtainable. Specifically, in genetic manipulation, DC-STAMP is incorporated into a vector that can be expressed, and then synthesized in a solution containing enzymes, substrates and energy substances necessary for transcription and translation, or other prokaryotic organisms or true organisms. The protein can be obtained by expressing DC-STAMP by transforming a nuclear host cell.

  The nucleotide sequence of cDNA of human DC-STAMP is registered in GenBank with accession number: NM_030788, and is also shown in SEQ ID NO: 1 in the sequence listing. Its amino acid sequence is shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 in the sequence listing. ing. As for the nucleotide sequence of mouse DC-STAMP cDNA, a long sequence including the third exon is registered in GenBank with accession number: AB109560, and is also shown in SEQ ID NO: 3 in the sequence listing. It is shown in SEQ ID NO: 4 in the column table. The nucleotide sequence of cDNA of a splice variant with a short third exon of mouse DC-STAMP is registered in GenBank with accession number: AB109561, and is also shown in SEQ ID NO: 5 in the sequence listing. SEQ ID NO: 6. DC-STAMP cDNA is, for example, a polymerase chain reaction (hereinafter referred to as “PCR”) using a cDNA library expressing DC-STAMP as a template and a primer that specifically amplifies DC-STAMP cDNA (Saiki) , RK, et al., Science, (1988) 239, 487-49).

  It hybridizes under stringent conditions with a polynucleotide comprising a nucleotide sequence complementary to at least one selected from SEQ ID NOs: 1, 3 and 5 in the sequence listing, and DC- A polynucleotide encoding a protein having biological activity equivalent to STAMP is also included in the cDNA of DC-STAMP. Furthermore, a splicing variant transcribed from a human or mouse DC-STAM locus or a polynucleotide that hybridizes to this under stringent conditions and that encodes a protein having a biological activity equivalent to that of DC-STAMP Nucleotides are also included in the DC-STAMP cDNA.

  In addition, the amino acid sequence shown in at least one selected from SEQ ID NOs: 2, 4 and 6 in the sequence listing consists of an amino acid sequence in which one or several amino acids are substituted, deleted or added, Proteins having biological activity equivalent to STAMP are also included in DC-STAMP. Furthermore, the amino acid sequence encoded by a splicing variant transcribed from a human or DC-STAMP locus, or an amino acid sequence in which one or several amino acids are substituted, deleted or added in the amino acid sequence, and DC Proteins having biological activity equivalent to -STAMP are also included in DC-STAMP.

2. Detection of abnormal bone metabolism
The DC-STAMP gene is a bone tumor in which many osteoclast-type multinucleated giant cells appear when the expression level of the gene in various bone tissue specimens is analyzed, and is characterized by osteolytic bone destruction as a clinical finding (Bullough et al., Atlas of Orthopedic Pathology 2nd edition, pp17.6-17.8, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Publishers (1992)) Is found.

  It was also found that the expression level of DC-STAMP increases when monocyte-derived cell lines differentiate into osteoclasts.

  Therefore, DC-STAMP is thought to be involved in human pathological conditions such as GCT where bone resorption is enhanced. That is, by measuring the expression level of each cell and / or tissue of DC-STAMP, it is possible to determine the state of a bone metabolic disorder that is thought to occur due to overexpression of DC-STAMP. In the present specification, abnormal bone metabolism refers to osteoporosis (postmenopausal osteoporosis, senile osteoporosis, secondary osteoporosis due to the use of steroids and immunosuppressants, osteoporosis associated with rheumatoid arthritis), bone destruction of rheumatoid arthritis, high cancerousness Calcemia, bone destruction due to bone metastasis of multiple myeloma and cancer, loss of teeth due to periodontitis, osteolysis around artificial joint, bone destruction in chronic osteomyelitis, Paget's disease of bone, renal bone dystrophy Include, but are not limited to, osteogenesis imperfecta and the like.

  The “sample” to be examined for the expression level of DC-STAMP in the present invention is blood, bone marrow, bone, body fluid, prostate, testis, penis, bladder, kidney, obtained from a subject or clinical sample, etc. Oral cavity, pharynx, lips, tongue, gingiva, nasopharynx, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, colon, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, nose, lung, soft tissue, skin, breast, uterus, ovary, brain, thyroid, lymph node In the present invention, blood or bone marrow is more preferable.

(1) Detection method of bone metabolism abnormality using the expression level of DC-STAMP gene
Specifically, the bone metabolism abnormality detection method using the expression level of the DC-STAMP gene is a method including the following steps 1) to 4).
1) A step of extracting a total RNA fraction from a sample collected from a subject;
2) A step of extracting a total RNA fraction from a sample collected from a normal person;
3) A step of measuring the expression level of the DC-STAMP gene in the total RNA fraction described in the above step 1) and the total RNA fraction described in the above step 2);
4) Analyzing the difference in the expression level of the gene measured in the above step 3) between the total RNA fraction derived from the above step 1) and the total RNA fraction derived from the above step 2). The process of detecting the bone metabolism abnormality of the test subject as described.
Hereafter, each process is demonstrated concretely.

a) Step 1) Step of extracting a total RNA fraction from a sample collected from a subject;
When extracting the total RNA fraction from the specimen, human-derived tissue obtained by a method suitable for the ethical standards of the appropriate experiment must be extracted from a solvent for RNA extraction (for example, phenol or other components having an action of inactivating ribonuclease). So that the cells of the tissue are not destroyed, or carefully scraped with a scraper, or gently extracted cells from the tissue using a proteolytic enzyme such as trypsin. After recovering the cells, the process immediately proceeds to the RNA extraction step.

  RNA extraction methods include guanidine thiocyanate / cesium chloride ultracentrifugation, guanidine thiocyanate / hot phenol method, guanidine hydrochloride method, acidic guanidine thiocyanate / phenol / chloroform method (Chomczynski, P. and Sacchi, N., Anal Biochem. (1987), 162, 156-159) may be employed, but the acidic guanidine thiocyanate / phenol / chloroform method is preferred. Commercially available reagents for RNA extraction (for example, ISOGEN (manufactured by Nippon Gene Co., Ltd.), TRIZOL reagent (manufactured by Gibco BRL)) and the like can also be used according to the protocol attached to the reagent.

  It is preferable that the obtained total RNA fraction is further purified to mRNA alone if necessary. The purification method is not particularly limited, but for example, mRNA is adsorbed to biotinylated oligo (dT) probe, and then captured on paramagnetic particles on which streptavidin is immobilized, using biotin / streptavidin binding. After the washing operation, the mRNA can be purified by eluting the mRNA. Alternatively, a method may be employed in which mRNA is adsorbed on an oligo (dT) cellulose column and then purified by elution. However, for the method of the present invention, these mRNA purification steps are not essential, and the total RNA fraction can be used in the subsequent steps as long as the expression of the polynucleotide to be detected can be detected. .

b) Step 2) Step of extracting the total RNA fraction from the sample collected from a normal person:
In the present invention, a normal person means a person who does not have a bone metabolism abnormality. Whether a person is normal or not can be determined by measuring the concentration of DC-STAMP and determining whether it falls within the numerical range that has been determined in advance as the value of a normal person. Determine whether a subject is a normal person by measuring the expression level of DC-STAMP in a sample collected from the subject by examining the correlation of the degree of bone metabolism abnormality in normal people in advance You can also. Preparation of the total RNA fraction from a normal person can be performed in the same manner as in the above step 1).

c) Step 3) Measuring the expression level of the DC-STAMP gene in the total RNA fraction described in the above step 1) and the total RNA fraction described in the above step 2):
Here, the expression level of the DC-STAMP gene consists of a polynucleotide comprising the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 1 in the sequence listing or a nucleotide sequence complementary to the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 1 in the sequence listing. It is shown by the expression level of a polynucleotide that hybridizes with the polynucleotide under stringent conditions.

  As a method for measuring the expression level of the DC-STAMP gene, a measurement method using a solid phase sample and some other measurement methods will be described.

(A) Measurement method using solid phase sample (i) Solid phase sample Examples of the solid phase sample include the following.

(B) Gene chip:
A gene chip on which an antisense oligonucleotide synthesized based on an EST (expressed sequence tag) sequence or mRNA sequence on a database is immobilized can be used. As such a gene chip, a gene chip manufactured by Affymetrix (Lipshutz, RJ et al., Nature Genet. (1999) 21, supplement, 20-24) can be used, but is not limited thereto. Instead, it may be produced based on a known method. When analyzing mRNA derived from human cells, those derived from human are preferable, and for example, human U95 set or U133 set manufactured by Affymetrix can be used. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and for example, those derived from closely related animals can also be used.

(B) Array or membrane filter in which cDNA or RT-PCR product prepared from human, total RNA or total RNA obtained from a specific tissue is immobilized:
The cDNA or RT-PCR product is cloned by performing reverse transcriptase reaction or PCR with primers prepared based on sequence information such as human EST database. These cDNA and RT-PCR products are obtained by subtracting the total RNA having different expression levels between humans with abnormal bone metabolism and humans without abnormal bone metabolism in advance (Diatchenki, L, et al, Proc. Natl. Acad.Sci.USA, (1996) 93,6025-6030), differential display method (Liang, P., et alNucleic Acids Res., (1992) 23,3685-3690) etc. There may be. Further, commercially available arrays and filters (for example, Intelligene: manufactured by Takara Bio Inc.) may be used, and the above cDNA and RT-PCR products may be used with a commercially available spotter (for example, GMS417 Arrayer: Takara Bio). It may be produced by solid-phase using a product manufactured by Co., Ltd.

(Ii) Preparation and analysis of probe The labeled probe is not a specific mRNA clone, but a labeled all labeled mRNA. Although unpurified mRNA may be used as a starting material for probe preparation, it is desirable to use poly (A) + RNA purified by the method described above. Below, the preparation method, detection method, and analysis method of a labeled probe when using various solid-phased samples will be described.

(A) Gene chip manufactured by Affymetrix:
A biotin-labeled cRNA probe is prepared according to the protocol (Affymetrix expression analysis technical manual) attached to the gene chip manufactured by Affymetrix. Next, according to the protocol (expression analysis technical manual) attached to the gene chip manufactured by Affymetrix, hybridization and analysis are performed using an analysis device (GeneChip Fluidics Station 400) manufactured by Affymetrix, and luminescence by avidin is detected and analyzed. Do.

(B) Array:
When cDNA is prepared from poly (A) ⁺ RNA by reverse transcriptase reaction, it is necessary to label the cDNA so that the cDNA can be detected. When labeling with a fluorescent dye, For example, d-UTP labeled with Cy3, Cy5, etc.) is added to fluorescently label cDNA. In this case, mixing the two at the time of hybridization after if labeled with different poly (A) + ^RNA sample derived from collected from poly (A) + ^RNA from normal human-derived sample collected from a subject respectively dyes, Can be used. For example, when a commercially available array of Takara Bio Inc. is used as the array, hybridization and washing are performed according to the protocol of the company, and a fluorescence signal detector (for example, GMS418 array scanner (manufactured by Takara Bio Inc.)) is used. Analysis is performed after detecting the fluorescent signal. However, the array to be used is not limited to a commercially available array, and may be a homemade or specially prepared array.

(C) Membrane filter:
When cDNA is prepared from poly (A) ⁺ RNA using reverse transcriptase, a labeled probe is prepared by adding a radioisotope (for example, d-CTP, etc.), and hybridization is performed by a conventional method. After hybridization and washing using an Atlas system (Clontech), which is a filter microarray, detection and analysis are performed using an analyzer (for example, Atlas Image: Clontech).

  In the methods described in any of (a) to (c) above, probes derived from human tissues are hybridized to a solid-phased sample of the same lot. At this time, the hybridization conditions other than the probe to be used are the same. When using fluorescently labeled probes, if each probe is labeled with a different fluorescent dye, a mixture of both probes can be hybridized to a single immobilized sample at a time and the fluorescence intensity can be read (Brown, PO et al. Nature Genet., (1999) 21, supplement, 33-37).

(B) Other measurement methods

Other than the above, the subtraction cloning method (see New Genetic Engineering Handbook for Experimental Medicine, published by Yodosha (1996) p.32-35), Differential Display Method (Basic Biochemical Experiment Method 4 Nucleic Acid / Gene Experiment II. Application) Ed., Tokyo Kagaku Dojin (2001), p125-128), a method using a reporter gene (chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (eg, pCAT3-Basic vector: Promega)) or β-galactosidase (eg, pβgal). -Basic: manufactured by Promega Corporation), secretory alkaline phosphatase (for example, pSEAP2-Basic: manufactured by Clontech), green fluorescent protein (for example, green-fluorescent protein) (for example, pEGFP-1: manufactured by Clontech) Use.)) But it is not limited to these.
d) Step 4) Analyzing the difference in the expression level of the gene measured by the above step 3) between the total RNA fraction derived from the above step 1) and the total RNA fraction derived from the above step 2). The process of detecting the bone metabolism abnormality of the test subject as described in 1). Analyzing the difference in DC-STAMP expression between normal and subject samples, there is a possibility that bone metabolism abnormalities may exist in samples with significantly increased DC-STAMP expression It can be determined that it is high, and abnormal bone metabolism can be detected. The expression level is significantly increased by using, for example, Affymetrix Microarray Suite Ver. When analyzed using 3.0, it means that the average difference value of the DC-STAMP gene is significantly increased as compared with a specimen derived from a normal person.

  In addition, if the concentration of DC-STAMP gene is measured and analyzed whether it is within the numerical value range determined as the normal value in advance, and if it exceeds the range determined as the normal value, bone Bone metabolism abnormalities can be detected by determining that they have metabolic abnormalities, and by examining the correlation between the expression level of DC-STAMP gene and the degree of formation of abnormal bone metabolism in normal people in advance, It can also be determined whether or not the subject is a normal person by measuring the expression level of the DC-STAMP gene in the collected specimen.

(2) Detection method of bone metabolism abnormality using DC-STAMP expression level (protein expression level)
Specifically, the bone metabolism abnormality detection method using the expression level of DC-STAMP is a method including the following steps 1) to 3).
1) A step of measuring the expression level of DC-STAMP in a sample collected from a subject:
2) A step of measuring the expression level of the protein described in 1) above in a sample collected from a normal person:
3) analyzing the difference between the protein expression level measured in the above step 1) and the protein expression level measured in the above step 2) to detect abnormal bone metabolism in the subject.
Hereafter, each process is demonstrated concretely.

1) Step 1) A step of measuring the expression level of DC-STAMP in a sample collected from a subject:
(A) Preparation of a sample for protein measurement from a sample A sample is prepared as an ELISA / RIA sample or a Western blot sample as follows after removing insoluble substances by performing high-speed centrifugation as necessary. .

  As a sample for ELISA / RIA, for example, a collected blood or bone marrow tissue extract is used as it is, or a sample diluted appropriately with a buffer. The sample for Western blot (for electrophoresis) is, for example, a sample buffer containing 2-mercatol ethanol for SDS-polyacrylamide electrophoresis by using blood or bone marrow tissue extract as it is or diluting it appropriately with a buffer. Mix with liquid (Sigma, etc.). In the case of dot / slot blotting, for example, the collected blood or bone marrow tissue extract itself or appropriately diluted with a buffer solution is directly adsorbed to the membrane using a blotting apparatus or the like.

(B) Immobilization of the sample In order to specifically detect the protein in the sample obtained as described above, the sample is precipitated and immobilized by an immunoprecipitation method, a method using ligand binding, or the like. Detection can be performed without phase formation, or the sample to be detected as it is can be immobilized. In the case of solidifying a protein, as a membrane used for Western blotting, dot blotting or slot blotting, a nitrocellulose membrane (for example, manufactured by Bio-Rad), a nylon membrane (for example, High Bond-ECL (Amersham), etc. And the like), cotton membrane (for example, blot absorbent filter (manufactured by Bio-Rad), etc.) or polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membrane (for example, Bio-Rad, etc.).

  In order to detect and quantify proteins by the ELISA method / RIA method, a sample or a diluted solution thereof (for example, 0.05% azide) is placed on a dedicated 96-well plate (for example, immunoplate maxi soap (manufactured by Nunk)). The inner bottom surface of the well by placing phosphate buffered saline (so-called “PBS”) containing sodium chloride and allowing to stand at 4 ° C. to room temperature overnight or at 37 ° C. for 1 to 3 hours. The protein is adsorbed to the solid phase.

  The antibody against DC-STAMP is selected from the amino acid sequence of DC-STAMP or DC-STAMP using a conventional method (for example, see Shinsei Kagaku Kogaku Kenkyu 1, Protein 1, p.389-397, 1992). The polypeptide can be obtained by immunizing an animal and collecting and purifying an antibody produced in vivo. In addition, according to known methods (for example, Kohler and Milstein, Nature, (1975) 256, 495-497, Kennet, R. ed., Monoclonal Antibody, (1980) 365-367, Prenum Press, NY) Hybridomas can be established by fusing antibody-producing cells that produce antibodies against myeloma cells and myeloma cells to obtain monoclonal antibodies.

  DC-STAMP serving as an antigen can be obtained by causing a host cell to produce a DC-STAMP gene by genetic manipulation. Specifically, a vector capable of expressing a DC-STAMP gene may be prepared, introduced into a host cell to express the gene, and the expressed DC-STAMP may be purified. Alternatively, a host cell itself or a membrane fragment expressing DC-STAMP may be used as an antigen.

(C) Measurement of DC-STAMP expression level
The expression level of DC-STAMP is indicated by the expression level of a protein consisting of the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 in the sequence listing.

  The expression level can be measured using a known method such as Western blotting or dot / slot blotting using the anti-DC-STAMP antibody.

2) Step 2) Measuring the expression level of the protein described in 1) above in a sample collected from a normal person:
The measurement of the expression level of DC-STAMP in a sample collected from a normal person can be performed by the same method as in the above step 1).

  3) Step 3) A step of analyzing a difference between the expression level of the protein measured in the above step 1) and the expression level of the protein measured in the above step 2) to detect an abnormal bone metabolism in the subject.

  Analyzing the difference in DC-STAMP expression between normal and subject samples, there is a possibility that bone metabolism abnormalities may exist in samples with significantly increased DC-STAMP expression It can be determined to be high, and abnormal bone metabolism can be detected.

  Also, measure the concentration of DC-STAMP, analyze whether it is in the numerical value range determined as a normal value in advance, and if it exceeds the range determined as a normal value, bone metabolism It is possible to detect abnormal bone metabolism by determining that it has an abnormality, and by examining the correlation between DC-STAMP expression and normal bone metabolism, DC- Whether or not the subject is a normal person can also be determined by measuring the expression level of STAMP.

3. DC-STAMP gene and DC-STAMP assay
The DC-STAMP gene and DC-STAMP are specifically expressed in giant cell tumors, and their expression levels increase when monocyte-derived cell lines differentiate into osteoclasts.

(1) Functional analysis of DC-STAMP gene and DC-STAMP using overexpression of DC-STAMP
As a method for examining the function of DC-STAMP, first, a full-length cDNA is obtained from a cDNA library derived from a cell expressing DC-STAMP according to a known method such as a colony hybridization method. This full-length cDNA is introduced into human-derived cells or non-human mammal-derived cells (eg, guinea pigs, rats, mice, chickens, rabbits, pigs, sheep, cows, monkey-derived cells, etc.) and highly expressed to affect the cells. Consider whether this occurs.

  In order to express cDNA in an animal individual, a method of incorporating the obtained full-length cDNA into a viral vector and administering it to an animal can be mentioned. Examples of the gene introduction method using a viral vector include a method of introducing cDNA into a DNA virus such as a retrovirus, adenovirus, adeno-associated virus, herpes virus, vaccinia virus, poxvirus, poliovirus, or RNA virus. . Of these, methods using retroviruses, adenoviruses, adeno-associated viruses, and vaccinia viruses are preferred.

  Non-viral gene transfer methods include a method in which an expression plasmid is directly administered intramuscularly (DNA vaccine method), a liposome method, a lipofection method, a microinjection method, a calcium phosphate method, an electroporation method, etc. The DNA vaccine method and the liposome method are preferred.

  For cultured cells, full-length cDNA is derived from monocytes of human-derived cells and non-human mammal-derived cells (eg, guinea pig, rat, mouse, chicken, rabbit, pig, sheep, cow, monkey-derived cells, etc.). Introduced into cells, lymph node-derived cells, muscle cells, hepatocytes, adipocytes, skin cells, etc. and highly expressed, the functions of each target cell, specifically bones such as osteoclast differentiation and maturation It is possible to examine the effects of metabolism-related functions or cell morphology.

  In introducing a full-length cDNA into an animal or cell, the cDNA is incorporated into a vector containing an appropriate promoter and a sequence involved in expression, and a host cell is transformed with the vector. As a vertebrate cell expression promoter, a promoter that is usually located upstream of the gene to be expressed, an RNA splice site, a polyadenylation site, a transcription termination sequence, and the like can be used. You may have. Examples of the expression vector include pSV2dhfr (Subramani, S. et al., Mol. Cell. Biol., (1981) 1, 854-864) having the SV40 early promoter, pCI- having the CMV early promoter. neo (Promega), retroviral vectors pLNCX, pLNSX, pLXIN, pSIR (Clontech), cosmid vector pAxCw (Takara Bio), and the like, but are not limited thereto. The expression vector includes diethylaminoethyl (DEAE) -dextran method (Luthman, H. and Magnusson, G., Nucleic Acids Res., (1983) 11, 1295-1308), calcium phosphate-DNA coprecipitation method (Graham, FLand mouse monocytes by van der Eb, AJ, Virology, (1973) 52, 456-457) and electric pulse perforation (Neumann, E. et al., EMBO J., (1982) 1, 841-845). Cell RAW264.7 (ATCC Cat. No. TIB-71), RAW264 cell (ECACC Cat. No. 85062803), RAW-D cell (Watanabe et al., J. Endocrinol., (2004) 180, 193-201 ), COS cells (Gluzman, Y., Cell, (1981) 23, 175-182, ATCC: CRL-1650) and Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO cells, ATCC: CCL-61) which are monkey cells Folate reductase-deficient strain (Urlaub, G. and Chasin, LA, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (1980) 77, 4126-4220), human fetal kidney-derived 293 cells (ATCC: CRL-1573), etc. Included Thereby it is possible, but is not limited thereto. Thus, a desired transformant can be obtained.

  It is also possible to prepare transgenic animals so that the target gene is highly expressed in normal animals by genetic manipulation, and to examine what kind of influence appears on the cell morphology.

(2) Functional analysis of DC-STAMP by suppressing the expression level of DC-STAMP
The function of DC-STAMP can also be analyzed by examining the effects of suppressing the expression level of DC-STAMP on osteoclast differentiation, osteoclast maturation, and cell morphology. .

  Examples of substances that suppress the expression of DC-STAMP include antisense nucleic acids, siRNA and the like against the DC-STAMP gene. Examples of the substance that inhibits the function of DC-STAMP include an antibody that specifically binds to DC-STAMP.

  Functions that each target cell has when suppressing the expression of DC-STAMP or inhibiting the function of DC-STAMP, specifically, functions related to bone metabolism such as osteoclast differentiation and maturation, or It is possible to examine what kind of influence appears on the cell morphology. In addition, a knockout animal in which the DC-STAMP gene is disrupted can be prepared in an animal having an abnormal bone metabolism or an animal having no abnormal bone metabolism, and the state of cells or tissues can be determined.

4). DC-STAMP gene and / or DC-STAMP detection kit
The DC-STAMP gene and / or DC-STAMP can be detected using a kit containing at least one selected from the group consisting of the following 1) to 5).
1) At least one selected from a polynucleotide consisting of the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 1 in the sequence listing, a polynucleotide consisting of the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 3 and a polynucleotide consisting of the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 5. A continuous oligonucleotide primer of 15 to 30 bases in length for specifically amplifying a single polynucleotide;
2) At least one selected from a polynucleotide consisting of the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 1 in the sequence listing, a polynucleotide consisting of the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 3 and a polynucleotide consisting of the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 5. A continuous polynucleotide probe of 15 nucleotides or more for hybridizing to a single polynucleotide under stringent conditions and detecting the polynucleotide;
3) At least one selected from a polynucleotide consisting of the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 1 in the sequence listing, a polynucleotide consisting of the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 3 and a polynucleotide consisting of the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 5. An immobilized sample on which one polynucleotide is immobilized;
4) At least one protein selected from the protein consisting of the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 in the sequence listing, the protein consisting of the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 4 and the protein consisting of the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 6. An antibody that specifically binds to and detects the protein;
5) A secondary antibody capable of binding to the antibody described in 4) above.

  The primer described in 1) is a commercially available primer design software (for example, Wisconsin GCG package Version 10.2) based on the nucleotide sequence of the DC-STAMP gene (nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 1, 3 and / or 5 in the sequence listing). Can be easily designed and amplified by conventional methods. The probe described in 2) above is a polynucleotide that specifically hybridizes to DC-STAMP, and has a length of 100 to 1500 bases, preferably 300 to 600 bases. These primers and probes may be labeled with an appropriate label (for example, an enzyme label, a radioactive label, a fluorescent label, etc.), and a linker may be added.

  The solid-phased sample described in 3) above is prepared by fixing the probe described in 2) above to a solid phase such as a glass plate or a nylon membrane. The method for preparing such a solid-phased sample is already described in “(1) Method for detecting bone metabolism abnormality using the expression level of DC-STAMP gene” in “2. Detection of bone metabolism abnormality”. For example, gene chips, cDNA arrays, oligo arrays, membrane filters and the like can be mentioned.

The kit of the present invention may further contain a thermostable DNA polymerase, dNTP (a mixture of dATP, dCTP, dGTP, dTTP) and a buffer. Examples of the thermostable DNA polymerase include Taq DNA polymerase, LA Taq DNA polymerase (manufactured by Takara Shuzo), Tth DNA polymerase, Pfu DNA polymerase, and the like. The buffer is selected according to the DNA polymerase to be used, and Mg ²⁺ or the like is added as necessary.

  The antibody described in 4) and 5) above is a method for detecting abnormal bone metabolism using the expression level (protein expression level) of DC-STAMP in the section “2. Detection of abnormal bone metabolism”. "Or the method described in" 6. Production of anti-DC-STAMP antibody ". The antibody may be labeled with an appropriate label (for example, enzyme label, radioactive label, fluorescent label, etc.).

  The kit of the present invention can be used for detection of DC-STAMP gene and / or DC-STAMP, and can also be used for the determination of the presence or absence of abnormal bone metabolism and the screening of substances that suppress the progression of pathological conditions of abnormal bone metabolism. it can.

5. Screening Method for Osteoclast Differentiation Inhibiting Substance As one aspect of the present invention, a screening method for osteoclast differentiation inhibiting substance by measuring the expression level of DC-STAMP gene and / or DC-STAMP. Can be mentioned.

  One aspect of the present invention is a method for screening a substance having a therapeutic effect and / or a preventive effect on bone metabolic disorders by identifying a substance that inhibits osteoclast differentiation promoting activity of DC-STAMP. Can do.

  The “test substance” refers to a substance to be examined for the activity of inhibiting differentiation into osteoclasts by the screening method of the present invention. Examples of the test substance include compounds, microbial metabolites, plant and animal tissue extracts, derivatives thereof, and mixtures thereof. In addition, nucleic acids or derivatives thereof (including antisense oligonucleotides, ribozymes, dsRNA, siRNA, etc.) designed to reduce the expression level of DC-STAMP can be used as test substances. The dose and concentration of the test substance can be set as appropriate, or multiple doses can be set, for example, by creating a dilution series, and can be administered in an appropriate state such as solid or liquid. May be dissolved in a suitable buffer, or a stabilizer may be added. In the case of a screening method using cultured cells, it can be added to a medium and cultured. When added to the medium, it may be added from the beginning of the culture or may be added during the culture, and the number of additions is not limited to one. The period of culturing in the presence of the test substance may be appropriately set, but is preferably 30 minutes to 2 weeks, and more preferably 30 minutes to 48 hours. When administering a test substance to a mammal individual, the administration form such as oral administration, intravenous injection, intraperitoneal injection, transdermal administration, and subcutaneous injection is properly used depending on the physical properties of the test substance. The time from administration of the test substance to obtaining the sample can be appropriately selected.

  The cultured cells used in the screening method of the present invention may be normal cells or cells exhibiting abnormal growth such as cancer cells, as long as they are mammalian cells expressing DC-STAMP. Cells RAW264.7 (ATCC Cat. No TIB-71), RAW264 cells (ECACC Cat. No. 85062803), RAW-D cells (Watanabe et al., J. Endocrinol., (2004) 180, 193-201), Examples include, but are not limited to, mouse bone marrow-derived primary cultured cells. Preferred mammalian species of cultured cells are, but not limited to, humans, mice or other mammals (guinea pigs, rats, chickens, rabbits, pigs, sheep, cows, monkeys, etc.). In addition, it is more preferable to use mammalian cells overexpressing DC-STAMP as cultured cells, for example, a RAW264.7 cell in which a DC-STAMP gene is introduced together with its promoter region and DC-STAMP is overexpressed, RAW264 cells, RAW-D cells, etc. can be mentioned.

  The screening method of the present invention also includes a method in which the test substance is administered to a mammalian individual without using cultured cells, and then the expression of the DC-STAMP gene in the organ or tissue cell removed from the animal individual is detected. included. The organ or tissue to be detected for gene expression may be any tissue that expresses DC-STAMP, but is preferably a tissue in which abnormal bone metabolism has occurred, and more preferably bone marrow. As the mammal species, a non-human mammal can be used, and a mouse, rat or hamster is preferable, and a mouse or rat is more preferable. Animal models that exhibit abnormal bone metabolism include ovariectomized animals, orchidectomized animals, tumor-bearing animals transplanted subcutaneously, intradermally, left ventricle, bone marrow, vein or abdominal cavity, sciatic nerve excised animals, adjuvant arthritis Model animal, collagen-induced arthritis model animal, glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis model animal, senescence accelerated mouse (SAMP6 mouse, Matsushita et al., Am. J. Pathol. 125, 276-283 (1986)), thyroid / parathyroid gland Isolated animals, continuous parathyroid hormone-related peptide (PTHrP) infusion animals, osteoclastogenesis inhibitory factor (OCIF) knockout mice (Mizuno et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., (1998) 247, 610-615) Etc. can be used. Furthermore, a model animal for tooth loss due to periodontal disease or an animal overexpressing DC-STAMP can be used. In addition, the test substance selected in the screening is administered to the above animal model, and parameters that vary due to abnormal bone metabolism such as the number of osteoclasts, bone density, bone strength, or blood Ca concentration in bone tissue are measured. By this, it is possible to evaluate the therapeutic effect and / or the preventive effect on abnormal bone metabolism of the test substance.

  The cultured cells used in the method of the present invention may be cultured under any conditions as long as DC-STAMP can be expressed when RANKL and TNF-α are added when no test substance is added. For example, known culture conditions for the cultured cells are known, and when the cells express DC-STAMP under the conditions, the cells may be cultured under the conditions. In addition, when detecting the expression of DC-STAMP in an organ or tissue extracted from a mammal individual, the breeding conditions of the animal may be any conditions that allow DC-STAMP to be expressed when no test substance is added.

  In addition, in order to investigate the influence of the test substance on the expression of DC-STAMP, the method of measuring the expression level of DC-STAMP gene and the expression level of DC-STAMP, which is the translation product of DC-STAMP gene, are measured. There is a way to do it. The test substance that suppresses the expression of DC-STAMP gene and / or DC-STAMP is a substance having a therapeutic effect and / or a preventive effect on bone metabolism abnormality, preferably osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis and / or cancerous hypercalcemia It is thought that.

  Extraction of total RNA from cultured cells, measurement of the expression level of DC-STAMP gene, and measurement of the expression level of DC-STAMP should be performed according to the method described in the above section “2. Detection of abnormal bone metabolism”. Can do. When using cultured cells derived from mammals, add RANKL and TNF-α together with the test substance to the medium as necessary, and use RANKL and TNF-α in the control without adding the test substance. Added.

(1) Method using DC-STAMP gene As a screening method of the present invention, for example, a method using cultured mammalian cells and a method using a mammal individual are as follows.

(a) a method of using cultured cells derived from mammals (i) comprising the following steps a) to c):
A) extracting total RNA from cultured cells derived from mammals cultured in a medium to which a test substance is added;
B) a step of detecting a difference in the expression level of the DC-STAMP gene between the total RNA derived from a) and the total RNA derived from cultured mammalian cells without addition of the test substance;
C) A step of analyzing the difference in the expression level of the gene described in b) and determining the therapeutic and / or preventive effect of the test substance on abnormal bone metabolism.

(Ii) includes the following steps a) to d).
A) extracting total RNA from cultured cells derived from mammals cultured in a medium to which a test substance is added;
(B) a step of extracting total RNA from cultured cells derived from mammals cultured in a medium to which no test substance is added;
C) a step of measuring the expression level of the DC-STAMP gene in the total RNA derived from the above a) and the total RNA derived from b);
D) Analyzing the difference in the expression level of the gene measured in the above c) between the total RNA derived from a) and b), and treating the test substance for abnormal bone metabolism, and / or A step of determining a preventive effect.

(b) Method using a mammal individual (i) The following steps a) to c) are included.
A) a step of extracting total RNA from a sample collected from a mammal individual administered with the test substance;
(B) a step of detecting a difference in the expression level of the DC-STAMP gene between the total RNA derived from a) and the total RNA obtained from a sample collected from an animal individual not administered the test substance;
C) A step of analyzing the difference in the expression level of the gene described in the above b) and determining the therapeutic and / or preventive effect on the abnormal bone metabolism of the test substance.

(Ii) includes the following steps a) to d).
A) a step of extracting total RNA from a sample collected from a mammal individual administered with the test substance;
(B) a step of extracting total RNA from a sample collected from a mammal individual not administered the test substance;
C) a step of measuring the expression level of the DC-STAMP gene in the total RNA derived from the step a) and the total RNA derived from the step b);
(D) A step of analyzing the difference in the expression level of the gene described in (c) and determining the therapeutic and / or preventive effect on the abnormal bone metabolism of the test substance.

(2) Method using DC-STAMP
The screening method using measuring the expression level of DC-STAMP includes the following steps for a method using cultured mammalian cells and a method using individual animals, respectively.

(a) A method using a cultured cell derived from a mammal (i) comprising the following steps a) and b):
A) a step of measuring the expression level of DC-STAMP in a cultured cell derived from a mammal cultured in a medium containing a test substance;
B) Analyzing the difference between the expression level of the protein measured in a) and the expression level of the protein in a cultured cell derived from a mammal cultured in a medium not added with the test substance, And / or determining a preventive effect.

(Ii) including the following steps a) to c):
A) a step of measuring the expression level of DC-STAMP protein in a cultured cell derived from a mammal cultured in a medium containing a test substance;
(B) a step of measuring the expression level of the protein according to (a) above in a cultured cell derived from a mammal cultured in a medium to which no test substance is added;
C) Detecting the difference between the protein expression level measured in (a) above and the protein expression level measured in (b) above to determine the therapeutic and / or prophylactic effect of the test substance against abnormal bone metabolism Process.

(iii) includes the following steps a) to c):
A) a step of immobilizing all proteins obtained from cultured cells derived from mammals cultured in a medium containing a test substance;
B) a step of measuring the expression level of the DC-STAMP protein in the solid phase protein;
C) Analyzing the difference between the expression level of DC-STAMP detected in (b) above and the expression level of the protein in the total amount of protein obtained from cultured mammalian cells cultured in a medium not containing the test substance. Determining a therapeutic effect and / or a preventive effect on abnormal bone metabolism.

(iv) includes the following steps a) to e):
A) a step of immobilizing all proteins obtained from cultured cells derived from mammals cultured in a medium containing a test substance;
(B) immobilizing all proteins obtained from cultured cells derived from mammals cultured in a medium to which no test substance is added;
C) a step of measuring the expression level of the DC-STAMP protein in the immobilized protein according to the above step a) using an antibody or a ligand that specifically binds to the protein;
D) a step of measuring the expression level of DC-STAMP in the immobilized protein described in the above step b) using an antibody or a ligand that specifically binds to the protein;
E) Analyzing the difference between the expression level of the protein measured in the above step c) and the expression level of the protein measured in the above step d) to determine the therapeutic effect and / or prevention effect of the test substance against abnormal bone metabolism. A step of determining.

(b) Method using a mammal individual
(i) Includes the following steps a) and b):
A) a step of measuring the expression level of DC-STAMP protein in a sample collected from a mammal administered with the test substance;
B) Analyzing the difference between the expression level of DC-STAMP measured in the above step a) and the expression level of the protein in a sample collected from a mammal individual who did not receive the test substance. Determining a therapeutic effect and / or a preventive effect on the patient.

(ii) including the following steps a) to c):
A) a step of measuring the expression level of a DC-STAMP protein in a sample collected from a mammal individual to which a test substance has been administered, using an antibody or a ligand that specifically binds to the protein;
(B) measuring the expression level of the protein in a sample collected from a mammal individual who has not been administered the test substance;
C) Analyzing the difference between the expression level of the DC-STAMP protein measured in step a) and the expression level of the protein measured in step b) to determine the therapeutic effect and / or prevention effect on the bone metabolism abnormality of the test substance. A step of determining.

(iii) includes the following steps a) to c):
A) a step of immobilizing all proteins in a sample collected from a mammal individual administered a test substance;
B) a step of measuring the expression level of the DC-STAMP protein in the solid phase protein;
C) Analyzing the difference between the expression level of the DC-STAMP protein detected in b) above and the expression level of the protein in a sample collected from a mammal individual not receiving the test substance. Determining the therapeutic and / or prophylactic effect on metabolic disorders.

(iv) includes the following steps a) to e):
A) a step of immobilizing all proteins in a sample collected from a mammal individual administered a test substance;
(B) immobilizing all proteins in a sample collected from a mammal individual who has not been administered the test substance;
C) a step of detecting the expression level of the DC-STAMP protein in the immobilized protein according to the above step a) using an antibody or a ligand that specifically binds to the protein;
D) a step of detecting the expression level of the DC-STAMP protein in the immobilized protein described in the above b) using an antibody or a ligand that specifically binds to the protein;
E) Analyzing the difference between the expression level of the protein detected in c) above and the expression level of the protein detected in d) above, and determining the therapeutic and / or prophylactic effect of the test substance against abnormal bone metabolism Process.

(3) Other methods
Measures the incidence of bone metabolism abnormality, degree of bone metabolism abnormality, and / or survival rate over time when a test substance is administered or not administered to a mammal overexpressing DC-STAMP To do. The incidence of abnormal bone metabolism is significantly reduced in mammals administered the test substance, the degree of abnormal bone metabolism is significantly small, and / or the survival rate is about 10% or more, preferably about 30% or more More preferably, the test substance can be selected as a compound having a therapeutic and / or prophylactic effect on abnormal bone metabolism when it is increased by about 50% or more.

6). Production of anti-DC-STAMP antibody (1) Antigen preparation As an antigen for producing anti-DC-STAMP antibody, DC-STAMP or a polypeptide comprising at least 6 consecutive partial amino acid sequences thereof, or any of them is used. And amino acid sequences and derivatives to which a carrier is added.

  DC-STAMP can be used by directly purifying from blood cells or bone marrow cells, or by preparing cell membrane fractions of these cells, and synthesizing DC-STAMP in vitro. Alternatively, it can be obtained by producing in a host cell by genetic manipulation.

  Examples of the prokaryotic host include Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis. To transform a gene of interest into these host cells, the host cell is transformed with a plasmid vector containing a replicon or origin of replication from a species compatible with the host and regulatory sequences. The vector preferably has a sequence capable of imparting phenotypic (phenotypic) selectivity to transformed cells.

  For example, K12 strain and the like are often used as E. coli, and pBR322 and pUC-type plasmids are generally used as vectors. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and any of various known strains and vectors can be used.

  Examples of the promoter in Escherichia coli include tryptophan (trp) promoter, lactose (lac) promoter, tryptophan lactose (tac) promoter, lipoprotein (lpp) promoter, polypeptide chain elongation factor Tu (tufB) promoter, etc. Any promoter can be used to produce the polypeptide of interest.

  As Bacillus subtilis, for example, the strain 207-25 is preferable, and pTUB228 (Ohmura, K. et al. (1984) J. Biochem. 95, 87-93) is used as a vector, but is not limited thereto. is not. By ligating a DNA sequence encoding the signal peptide sequence of Bacillus subtilis α-amylase, secretion expression outside the cell can also be achieved.

  Eukaryotic host cells include cells such as vertebrates, insects, and yeasts. Examples of vertebrate cells include mouse monocyte-derived cells RAW264.7 (ATCC Cat. No TIB-71) and RAW264 cells. (ECACC Cat. No. 85062803), RAW-D cells (Watanabe et al., J. Endocrinol., (2004) 180, 193-201), COS cells (Gluzman, Y., Cell, ( 1981) 23, 175-182, ATCC CRL-1650), mouse fibroblasts NIH3T3 (ATCC No. CRL-1658) and Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO cells, ATCC CCL-61) deficient strains ( Urlaub, G. and Chasin, LA, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, (1980) 77, 4126-4220), etc. are often used, but are not limited thereto.

  As a vertebrate cell expression promoter, a promoter that is usually located upstream of the gene to be expressed, an RNA splice site, a polyadenylation site, a transcription termination sequence, and the like can be used. You may have. Examples of the expression vector include pCDNA3.1 having a cytomegalovirus early promoter (manufactured by Invitrogen), pSV2dhfr having an SV40 early promoter (Subramani, S. et al., Mol. Cell. Biol., (1981) 1, 854-864), etc., but is not limited thereto.

  For example, when a COS cell or NIH3T3 cell is used as a host cell, the expression vector has an SV40 origin of replication, and can autonomously grow in a COS cell or NIH3T3 cell. Furthermore, a transcription promoter, transcription termination A signal and an RNA splice site can be used. The expression vector includes DEAE-dextran method (Luthman, H. and Magnusson, G., Nucleic Acids Res., (1983) 11, 1295-1308), calcium phosphate-DNA coprecipitation method (Graham, FL and van der Eb, AJ, Virology, (1973) 52, 456-457) and electric pulse perforation (Neumann, E. et al., EMBO J., (1982) 1, 841-845) etc. to COS cells or NIH3T3 cells Thus, the desired transformed cells can be obtained. When a CHO cell is used as a host cell, a vector capable of expressing a neo gene functioning as an antibiotic G418 resistance marker together with an expression vector, such as pRSVneo (Sambrook, J. et al. (1989): “Molecular Cloning A Laboratory Manual “Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY) or pSV2neo (Southern, PJ and Berg, P., J. Mol. Appl. Genet., (1982) 1, 327-341) By selecting resistant colonies, transformed cells that stably produce the polypeptide of interest can be obtained.

  The transformant obtained as described above can be cultured according to a conventional method, and the desired polypeptide is produced intracellularly, on the cell membrane, or extracellularly. As the medium used for the culture, various commonly used media can be appropriately selected according to the employed host cells. For example, in the case of the COS cells, RPMI1640 medium or Dulbecco's modified Eagle medium (hereinafter referred to as “DMEM”). ) And the like to which a serum component such as fetal bovine serum is added as necessary.

  Recombinant proteins produced in the cells of the transformant, on the cell membrane, or extracellularly by the above culture are separated and purified by various known separation procedures utilizing the physical and chemical properties of the proteins. can do. Specific examples of the method include treatment with an ordinary protein precipitant, ultrafiltration, molecular sieve chromatography (gel filtration), adsorption chromatography, ion exchange chromatography, affinity chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography ( Examples thereof include various liquid chromatography (HPLC) and the like, dialysis methods, combinations thereof, and the like. Further, by connecting histidine consisting of 6 residues to a recombinant protein to be expressed, it can be efficiently purified with a nickel affinity column. By combining the above methods, the desired polypeptide can be easily produced in large quantities with high yield and high purity. When the above protein is produced on the cell membrane, it can be separated and roughly purified by preparing a cell membrane fraction.

(2) Production of anti-DC-STAMP monoclonal antibody

As an example of an antibody that specifically binds to DC-STAMP, a monoclonal antibody that specifically binds to DC-STAMP can be mentioned. The method for obtaining the antibody is as described below.

In producing a monoclonal antibody, the following work steps are generally required. That is,
(A) purification of biopolymers used as antigens,
(B) a step of preparing antibody-producing cells after immunization by injecting an antigen into an animal, collecting blood and determining its antibody titer to determine the timing of splenectomy;
(C) Preparation of myeloma cells (hereinafter referred to as “myeloma”),
(D) cell fusion between antibody-producing cells and myeloma,
(E) selection of a hybridoma group producing the target antibody;
(F) Division into single cell clones (cloning),
(G) In some cases, culturing hybridomas for producing a large amount of monoclonal antibodies, or raising animals transplanted with hybridomas,
(H) Examination of the physiological activity of the monoclonal antibody thus produced and its binding specificity, or the test of the properties as a labeling reagent.

  Hereinafter, although the production method of a monoclonal antibody is explained in full detail along the said process, the production method of this antibody is not restricted to this, For example, antibody producing cells other than a spleen cell and myeloma can also be used.

(A) Purification of antigen As an antigen, DC-STAMP prepared by the method as described above or a part thereof can be used. In addition, a membrane fraction prepared from a DC-STAMP-expressing recombinant cell, or a DC-STAMP-expressing recombinant cell itself, and a partial peptide of the protein of the present invention chemically synthesized using a method well known to those skilled in the art Can also be used as an antigen.

  (B) Preparation of antibody-producing cells The antigen obtained in step (a) is mixed with Freund's complete or incomplete adjuvant, or an adjuvant such as potassium alum, and an experimental animal is immunized as an immunogen. As the experimental animal, an animal used in a known hybridoma production method can be used without any problem. Specifically, for example, mice, rats, goats, sheep, cows, horses and the like can be used. However, from the viewpoint of availability of myeloma cells to be fused with the extracted antibody-producing cells, it is preferable to use mice or rats as immunized animals. The mouse and rat strains actually used are not particularly limited. In the case of mice, for example, each strain A, AKR, BALB / c, BDP, BA, CE, C3H, 57BL, C57BR, C57L, DBA, FL, HTH, HT1, LP, NZB, NZW, RF, RIII, SJL, SWR, WB, 129, etc., and in the case of rats, for example, Low, Lewis, Spraque, Daweley, ACI, BN, Fischer, etc. Can be used. These mice and rats can be obtained from, for example, laboratory animal breeders such as Japan Clare, Japan Charles River, Japan SLC, The Jackson Laboratories. Among these, in consideration of fusion compatibility with the myeloma cells described later, the BALB / c strain is particularly preferable for mice and the low strain for rats is particularly preferable. In consideration of the homology of antigens between humans and mice, it is also preferable to use mice with reduced biological mechanisms for removing autoantibodies, that is, autoimmune disease mice. In addition, the age at the time of immunization of these mice or rats is preferably 5 to 12 weeks old, more preferably 6 to 8 weeks old.

  To immunize animals with DC-STAMP or this recombinant, for example, Weir, DM, Handbook of Experimental Immunology Vol. I. II. III., Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford (1987), Kabat, EA and Mayer, Known methods described in detail in MM, Experimental Immunochemistry, Charles C Thomas Publisher Spigfield, Illinois (1964) and the like can be used. Among these immunization methods, the preferred method in the present invention is specifically shown as follows, for example. That is, first, a membrane protein fraction that is an antigen or a cell in which the antigen is expressed is administered intradermally or intraperitoneally in an animal. However, in order to increase the immune efficiency, the combination of both is preferable. When the first half is intradermally administered and the second half or the last is intraperitoneally administered, the immune efficiency can be particularly enhanced. The administration schedule of the antigen varies depending on the type of animal to be immunized, individual differences and the like, but in general, the number of antigen administrations is preferably 3 to 6 times, and the administration interval is 2 to 6 weeks. More preferably 4 weeks. If the number of administrations is excessively increased, antigens are wasted, and if the interval between administrations is excessively widened, cell activation due to aging of the animals is unpreferable. The dose of antigen varies depending on the type of animal, individual differences, etc., but is generally 0.05 to 5 ml, preferably about 0.1 to 0.5 ml. The booster immunization is performed 1 to 6 weeks, preferably 2 to 4 weeks, and more preferably 2 to 3 weeks after the antigen administration as described above. If this booster period is later than the sixth week or too early than the first week, the effect of booster is less. The dose of antigen for booster immunization varies depending on the type and size of the animal, but generally, for example, in the case of a mouse, 0.05 to 5 ml, preferably 0.1 to 0.5 ml, more preferably 0.1 to Make about 0.2 ml. Unnecessary large doses not only reduce the immune effect, but are also undesirable for the immunized animal.

  Spleen cells or lymphocytes containing antibody-producing cells are aseptically removed from the immunized animal 1 to 10 days after the boost, preferably 2 to 5 days, and more preferably 2 to 3 days later. If the antibody titer is measured at that time and an animal having a sufficiently high antibody titer is used as a source of antibody-producing cells, the efficiency of subsequent operations can be increased.

The antibody titer measurement method used here includes various known techniques such as RIA method, ELISA method, fluorescent antibody method, passive hemagglutination reaction method, but detection sensitivity, rapidity, accuracy, and automation of operation. From the viewpoint of the possibility of the above, RIA method or ELISA method is more preferable.

The antibody titer in the present invention can be measured according to the procedure described below, for example, according to the ELISA method. First, a purified or partially purified antigen is adsorbed on a solid phase surface such as a 96-well plate for ELISA, and a solid phase surface on which no antigen is adsorbed is a protein unrelated to the antigen, such as bovine serum albumin (hereinafter referred to as “BSA”). After the surface is washed, the surface is contacted with a serially diluted sample (for example, mouse serum) as the first antibody, and the monoclonal antibody in the sample is bound to the antigen. Furthermore, an antibody against a mouse antibody labeled with an enzyme as a second antibody is added and bound to the mouse antibody. After washing, the substrate of the enzyme is added, and the change in absorbance due to color development based on the decomposition of the substrate is measured. calculate. Separation of antibody-producing cells from these spleen cells or lymphocytes can be achieved by known methods (eg, Kohler et al., Nature, (1975) 256, 495; Kohler et al., Eur. J. Immunol., (1977 ) 6,511,; Milstein et al., Nature, (1977) 266, 550; Walsh, Nature, (1977) 266, 495). For example, in the case of spleen cells, it is possible to employ a general method of separating antibody-producing cells by chopping the cells and filtering them with a stainless mesh and then suspending them in Eagle's minimum essential medium (MEM).

(C) Preparation of myeloma cells (hereinafter referred to as “myeloma”) Myeloma cells used for cell fusion are not particularly limited and can be appropriately selected from known cell lines. However, in consideration of convenience when selecting hybridomas from the fused cells, it is preferable to use HGPRT (Hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase) deficient strains for which selection procedures have been established. That is, X63-Ag8 (X63), NS1-Ag4 / 1 (NS1), P3X63-Ag8.Ul (P3Ul), X63-Ag8.653 (X63.653), SP2 / 0-Ag14 (SP2 / 0) derived from mice ), MPC11-45.6TG1.7 (45.6TG), FO, S149 / 5XXO, BU.1, etc., rat-derived 210.RSY3.Ag.1.2.3 (Y3), etc., human-derived U266AR (SKO-007) GM1500 / GTG-A12 (GM1500), UC729-6, LICR-LOW-HMy2 (HMy2), 8226AR / NIP4-1 (NP41) and the like. These HGPRT-deficient strains can be obtained from, for example, the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC).

These cell lines contain 8-azaguanine in a suitable medium, for example, 8-azaguanine medium [RPMI-1640 medium supplemented with glutamine, 2-mercaptoethanol, gentamicin, and fetal calf serum (hereinafter referred to as “FCS”). Added medium], subcultured in Iscove's Modified Dulbecco's Medium (hereinafter referred to as “IMDM”) or Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium (hereinafter referred to as “DMEM”). Passage culture is performed in a normal medium [for example, ASF104 medium (manufactured by Ajinomoto Co., Inc.) containing 10% FCS] 4 to 4 days before, and a cell number of 2 × 10 ⁷ or more is secured on the day of fusion.

(D) Cell fusion Fusion of antibody-producing cells and myeloma cells can be performed by a known method (Weir, DM, Handbook of Experimental Immunology Vol. II. III., Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford (1987), Kabat, EA and Mayer. , MM, Experimental Immunochemistry, Charles C Thomas Publisher Spigfield, Illinois (1964), etc.) and can be appropriately performed under conditions that do not extremely reduce the cell viability. As such a method, for example, a chemical method of mixing antibody-producing cells and myeloma cells in a high-concentration polymer solution such as polyethylene glycol, a physical method using electrical stimulation, or the like can be used. Of these, specific examples of the chemical method are as follows. That is, when polyethylene glycol is used as the high-concentration polymer solution, antibody production is carried out at a temperature of 30 to 40 ° C., preferably 35 to 38 ° C. in a polyethylene glycol solution having a molecular weight of 1500 to 6000, preferably 2000 to 4000. Cells and myeloma cells are mixed for 1 to 10 minutes, preferably 5 to 8 minutes.

(E) Selection of hybridoma group The selection method of the hybridoma obtained by the above-mentioned cell fusion is not particularly limited. Milstein at al., Nature 266, 550 (1977)]. This method is effective when hybridomas are obtained using myeloma cells of HGPRT-deficient strains that cannot survive with aminobuterin. That is, by culturing unfused cells and hybridomas in HAT medium, only hybridomas having resistance to aminobuterin can selectively remain and grow.

(F) Division into single cell clones (cloning)
As a method for cloning a hybridoma, a known method such as a methyl cellulose method, a soft agarose method, a limiting dilution method, or the like can be used [for example, Barbara, BM and Stanley, MS: Selected Methods in Cellular Immunology, WH Freeman and Company, San. (See Francisco (1980)). This cloning method includes a limiting dilution method in which one well of a plate is diluted and cultured so that one hybridoma is contained, a soft agar method in which colonies are collected by culturing in a soft agar medium, and one by one using a micromanipulator. And a method of cultivating the cells and culturing, and a “sorter clone” in which one cell is separated by a cell sorter. Of these methods, the limiting dilution method is particularly suitable. In this method, a feeder such as a rat fetal fibroblast cell line or normal mouse spleen cells, thymocytes, ascites cells is inoculated on a microplate. On the other hand, the hybridoma is diluted in advance in a medium so that the concentration of the hybridoma is 0.2 to 0.5 / 0.2 ml, and 0.1 ml of the diluted hybridoma suspension is added to each well, and is removed at regular intervals (for example, 3 Hybridoma clones can be grown by continuing the culture for about 2 weeks while replacing about 1/3 of the medium with a new one every day.

  For wells with recognized antibody titers, cloning by limiting dilution is repeated, for example, 2-4 times, and those with stable antibody titers are selected as anti-DC-STAMP monoclonal antibody-producing hybridoma strains.

(G) Preparation of monoclonal antibody by hybridoma culture The hybridoma thus selected can be efficiently obtained by culturing the hybridoma, but the target monoclonal antibody is produced prior to the culture. It is desirable to screen for hybridomas. For this screening, a method known per se can be employed.

  The antibody titer in the present invention can be measured according to the procedure described below, for example, according to the ELISA method. First, purified or partially purified DC-STAMP or cells expressing DC-STAMP are adsorbed to a solid phase surface such as a 96-well plate for ELISA, and the solid phase surface to which no antigen is adsorbed is unrelated to the antigen. Covered with a protein such as bovine serum albumin (hereinafter referred to as “BSA”), washed the surface, contacted with a serially diluted sample (for example, a culture supernatant of a hybridoma) as a first antibody, and the antigen was treated with anti-DC in the sample. -Bind STAMP antibody. Further, an antibody against a mouse antibody labeled with an enzyme as a second antibody is added and bound to the mouse antibody. After washing, the substrate of the enzyme is added, and the change in absorbance due to color development based on the decomposition of the substrate is measured. calculate. Such screening may be performed after the hybridoma is cloned as described above, or may be performed before that.

  The hybridoma obtained by the method as described above can be stored in a frozen state in liquid nitrogen or in a freezer at -80 ° C or lower.

The hybridoma that has been cloned is cultured by changing the medium from the HT medium to the normal medium. Mass culture is performed by rotary culture using a large culture bottle or spinner culture. By purifying the supernatant in this mass culture using a method well known to those skilled in the art, such as gel filtration, a monoclonal antibody that specifically binds to the protein of the present invention can be obtained. In addition, ascites containing a large amount of the monoclonal antibody of the present invention can be obtained by injecting a hybridoma into the abdominal cavity of the same strain of mice (for example, the above-mentioned BALB / c) or Nu / Nu mouse and allowing the hybridoma to grow. Can be obtained. When administered intraperitoneally, mineral oil such as 2,6,10,14-tetramethylpentadecane (pristane) is administered in advance (3-7 days ago). More ascites can be obtained. For example, after injecting an immunosuppressant into the abdominal cavity of a mouse of the same strain as the hybridoma to inactivate T cells, 20 ⁶ days later, 10 ⁶ to 10 ⁷ hybridoma clone cells are placed in a serum-free medium. The solution is floated (0.5 ml) and administered into the abdominal cavity. Ascites is collected from the mouse when the abdomen is usually swelled and collected in the ascites. By this method, a monoclonal antibody having a concentration of about 100 times or more compared with that in the culture solution can be obtained.

  The monoclonal antibody obtained by the above method can be purified by the method described in, for example, Weir, D.M .: Handbook of Experimental Immunology Vol. I, II, III, Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford (1978). That is, ammonium sulfate salting-out method, gel filtration method, ion exchange chromatography method, affinity chromatography method and the like. Among these methods, the monoclonal antibody can be purified by repeating the ammonium sulfate salting out method 3 to 4 times, preferably 3 to 6 times. However, this method results in a very low yield of purified monoclonal antibody. Therefore, for the crude purified monoclonal antibody that has been subjected to the ammonium sulfate fractionation method once or twice, at least one, preferably two methods selected from gel filtration, ion exchange chromatography, affinity chromatography, and the like are performed. Thus, a highly purified monoclonal antibody can be obtained in a high yield. The combination and order of ammonium sulfate salting-out method and other methods include (i) ammonium sulfate salting-out method-ion exchange chromatography method-gel filtration method, (ii) ammonium sulfate salting out method-ion exchange chromatography method-affinity chromatography (Iii) ammonium sulfate salting out method-gel filtration method-affinity chromatography method, etc., in order to obtain a monoclonal antibody with high purity and high yield, the combination of the above (iii) Particularly preferred.

As a simple purification method, a commercially available monoclonal antibody purification kit (for example, MAbTrap GII kit; manufactured by Pharmacia) or the like can also be used.

The monoclonal antibody thus obtained has a high antigen specificity for DC-STAMP.

(H) Assay of monoclonal antibody The isotype and subclass of the monoclonal antibody thus obtained can be determined as follows. First, examples of the identification method include an ochterlony method, an ELISA method, and an RIA method. The octerulony method is simple, but concentration is necessary when the concentration of the monoclonal antibody is low. On the other hand, when the ELISA method or the RIA method is used, the culture supernatant is reacted with the antigen-adsorbing solid phase as it is, and further, antibodies corresponding to various immunoglobulin isotypes and subclasses are used as secondary antibodies. Isotypes and subclasses can be identified. Further, as a simpler method, a commercially available kit for identification (for example, mouse typer kit; manufactured by Bio-Rad) or the like can be used.

Furthermore, the protein can be quantified by a foreign lawy method and a method of calculating from absorbance at 280 nm [1.4 (OD280) = immunoglobulin 1 mg / ml]. (3) Production of humanized anti-DC-STAMP antibody Immunoglobulin G (hereinafter simply referred to as “IgG”) has a light polypeptide chain (hereinafter referred to as “light chain”) having a molecular weight of approximately 23,000 and a heavy polypeptide having a molecular weight of approximately 50000. It is composed of two polypeptide chains (hereinafter referred to as “heavy chains”). Both heavy chain and light chain have a repeating structure of a region where amino acid sequence is conserved, consisting of about 110 residues, and these constitute the basic unit (hereinafter referred to as “domain”) of the three-dimensional structure of IgG. The heavy and light chains are composed of 4 consecutive and 2 domains, respectively. In both the heavy chain and the light chain, the amino-terminal domain has a greater variation in amino acid sequence between antibody molecules than the other domains, and this domain is a variable domain (hereinafter referred to as “V domain”). Called. At the amino terminus of IgG, V domains of heavy and light chains are complementarily associated to form a variable region. In contrast, the remaining domains form a constant region as a whole. The constant region has a sequence characteristic to each animal species. For example, since the constant region of mouse IgG is different from the constant region of human IgG, mouse IgG is recognized as a foreign substance by the human immune system. As a result, a human anti mouse antibody (hereinafter referred to as “HAMA”) response occurs (Schloff et al., Cancer Res., (1985) 45, 879-85). Therefore, mouse antibodies cannot be repeatedly administered to humans. In order to administer such an antibody to humans, it is necessary to modify the antibody molecule so as not to cause a HAMA response while retaining the specificity of the antibody.

  According to the result of X-ray crystal structure analysis, such a domain generally has a long cylindrical structure in which two layers of antiparallel β sheets composed of 3 to 5 β chains are overlapped. In the variable region, three loops for each heavy chain and light chain V domain are assembled to form an antigen-binding site. Each loop is called a complementarity determining region (hereinafter referred to as “CDR”), and the variation of the amino acid sequence is most remarkable. The part other than the CDR of the variable region generally has a role of retaining the structure of the CDR and is called “framework”. Kabat et al. Collected a large number of primary sequences of heavy and light chain variable regions, and based on the conservation of the sequences, created a table in which each primary sequence was classified into CDRs and frameworks (Kabat et al., SEQUENCES OF IMMUNOLOGICAL INTEREST, 5th edition, NIH publication, No.91-3242, EA Kabatt et al.). Each framework was classified into a plurality of subgroups having common features in amino acid sequences. In addition, it has been found that there is a corresponding framework between humans and mice.

  The following methods for producing humanized antibodies have been devised from studies on the structural characteristics of IgG.

In the early stage of research, a chimeric antibody was proposed in which the variable region of a mouse-derived antibody was conjugated to a human-derived constant region (see Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81 , 6851-6855, (1984)). However, such chimeric antibodies still contain many non-human amino acid residues and can induce a HAMA response, especially when administered for extended periods (Begent et al., Br. J. Cancer, (1990 62, 487).

As a method for further reducing amino acid residues derived from non-human mammals that may express a HAMA response to humans, a method in which only CDR portions are incorporated into human-derived antibodies has been proposed (Nature, 321, 522). -525, (1986)), in general, CDR-only transplantation was insufficient to retain immunoglobulin activity against antigens.

On the other hand, Chocchia et al. Used X-ray crystal structure analysis data in 1987,
(a) In the CDR amino acid sequence, there are a site that directly binds to an antigen and a site that maintains the structure of the CDR itself, and the three-dimensional structure that the CDR can take is a plurality of typical patterns (canonical structures). Being classified into,
(b) It was found that the class of canonical structure is determined not only by the CDR but also by the type of amino acid at a specific position of the framework part (J. Mol. Biol., (1987) 196, 901-917). .

  Based on this finding, it was suggested that in the case of using the CDR grafting method, it is necessary to graft the amino acid residues of some frameworks to human antibodies in addition to the CDR sequence (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-502408).

  In general, an antibody derived from a non-human mammal having a CDR to be transplanted is defined as a “donor”, and a human antibody to which a CDR is transplanted is defined as an “acceptor”, and the present invention also follows this definition.

A point to consider when performing CDR grafting is to preserve the structure of the CDR and preserve the activity of the immunoglobulin molecule as much as possible. To achieve this goal:
(a) Which subgroup should the acceptor select?
(b) It should be noted that two amino acid residues should be selected from the donor framework.

Queen et al. Proposed a design method in which an amino acid residue of a donor framework is transferred to an acceptor together with a CDR sequence when at least one of the following criteria is met (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-502408):
(a) The amino acid in the acceptor framework region is rare at that position and the corresponding amino acid of the donor is common at that position of the acceptor.
(b) The amino acid is in the immediate vicinity of one of the CDRs.
(c) It is expected that the amino acid will have a side chain atom within about 3 cm of the CDR in a three-dimensional immunoglobulin model and can interact with the antigen or with the CDR of a humanized antibody.

  For the DNA encoding the heavy chain or light chain of the anti-DC-STAMP monoclonal antibody of the present invention, mRNA is prepared from the hybridoma cell producing the anti-DC-STAMP monoclonal antibody, and the mRNA is converted to cDNA by reverse transcriptase. And then isolating the DNA encoding the heavy or light chain of the antibody, respectively.

For extraction of mRNA, a guanidine / thiocyanate / hot / phenol method, a guanidine / thiocyanate-guanidine / hydrochloric acid method, or the like may be employed, but a guanidine / thiocyanate / cesium chloride method is preferable. Preparation of mRNA from cells is a method of first preparing total RNA and then purifying from the total RNA using a carrier for purifying poly (A) ⁺ RNA such as oligo (dT) cellulose and oligo (dT) latex beads, or It can be carried out by a method of directly purifying from cell lysate using the carrier. Methods for preparing total RNA include alkaline sucrose density gradient centrifugation (Dougherty, WG and Hiebert, E., Viology, (1980) 101, 466-474), guanidine thiocyanate / phenol method, guanidine thiocyanate / trifluorocesium. The method, phenol / SDS method and the like can also be adopted, but a method using guanidine thiocyanate and cesium chloride (Chirgwin, JM, et al., (1979) Biochemistry, (1979) 18, 5294-5299) is preferable.

Using the poly (A) ⁺ RNA obtained as described above as a template, single-stranded cDNA can be synthesized by reverse transcriptase reaction, and then double-stranded cDNA can be synthesized from this single-stranded cDNA. This method includes S1 nuclease method (Efstratiadis, A., et al., Cel1, (1976) 7, 279-288), Gubler-Hoffman method (Gubler, U. and Hoffman, BJ, Gene, (1983) 25, 263-269), the Okayama Berg method (Okayama, H. and Berg, P., Mol. Cell. Biol., (1982) 2, 161-170), etc. The so-called RT-PCR method is preferred, in which the polymerase chain reaction (hereinafter referred to as “PCR”) (Saiki, RK, et al., Science, (1988) 239, 487-49) is performed using the strand cDNA as a template.

  The double-stranded cDNA thus obtained is incorporated into a cloning vector, the resulting recombinant vector is introduced into a microorganism such as Escherichia coli and transformed, and a transformant is selected using tetracycline resistance or ampicillin resistance as an index. can do. The transformation of E. coli is performed by the Hanahan method (Hanahan, D., J. Mol. Biol., (1983) 166, 557-580), that is, using competent cells prepared in the presence of calcium chloride, magnesium chloride or rubidium chloride. The method can be performed by adding the recombinant DNA vector. In addition, when using a plasmid as a vector, it is necessary to have said drug resistance gene. It is also possible to use cloning vectors other than plasmids, such as lambda phages.

  As a method for selecting a strain having cDNA encoding each subunit of the desired anti-DC-STAMP monoclonal antibody from the transformed strains obtained as described above, for example, the following various methods can be employed. In addition, when the target cDNA is specifically amplified by the RT-PCR method, these operations can be omitted.

(3-1) Method using polymerase chain reaction When all or part of the amino acid sequence of the target protein has been elucidated, an oligonucleotide primer of a sense strand and an antisense strand corresponding to a part of the amino acid sequence is synthesized. A DNA fragment encoding the desired anti-DC-STAMP antibody heavy chain or light chain subunit by performing polymerase chain reaction (Saiki, RK, et al., Science, (1988) 239, 487-49) by combining these Amplify. As the template DNA used here, for example, cDNA synthesized by reverse transcriptase reaction from mRNA of a hybridoma producing an anti-DC-STAMP monoclonal antibody can be used.

The DNA fragment thus prepared can be directly incorporated into a plasmid vector using a commercially available kit or the like, or the fragment can be labeled with ³² P, ³⁵ S or biotin and used as a probe for colony. The clone of interest can also be selected by performing hybridization or plaque hybridization.

  For example, as a method for examining the partial amino acid sequence of each subunit of the anti-DC-STAMP monoclonal antibody of the present invention, each subunit is isolated using a well-known method such as electrophoresis or column chromatography, and then the automatic protein A method of analyzing the N-terminal amino acid sequence of each subunit using a sequencer (for example, PPSQ-10 manufactured by Shimadzu Corporation) is suitable.

  A method for collecting cDNA encoding each subunit of the anti-DC-STAMP monoclonal antibody protein from the target transformant obtained as described above is a known method (Maniatis, T., et al. (1982 ) in "Molecular Cloning A Laboratory Manual" Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY.). For example, it can be carried out by separating a fraction corresponding to the vector DNA from cells and cutting out a DNA region encoding the target subunit from the plasmid DNA.

(3-2) Screening method using synthetic oligonucleotide probe When all or part of the amino acid sequence of the target protein has been elucidated (if the sequence is a specific sequence of a plurality of sequences, any region of the target protein And an oligonucleotide corresponding to the amino acid sequence is synthesized (in this case, either a nucleotide sequence estimated based on codon usage or a plurality of nucleotide sequences combined with possible nucleotide sequences is employed) In the latter case, the type can be reduced by including inosine), and this is used as a probe (labeled with ³² P, ³⁵ S, biotin or the like), and the transformant strain DNA is denatured and immobilized. And the resulting positive strain is selected.

  The determination of the DNA sequence thus obtained can be performed, for example, by the Maxam-Gilbert chemical modification method (Maxam, AM and Gilbert, W., Methods in Enzymology, (1980) 65, 499-576) or the dideoxynucleotide chain termination method. (Messing, J. and Vieira, J., Gene (1982) 19, 269-276).

  In recent years, automatic base sequencing systems using fluorescent dyes have become widespread (for example, sequence robot “CATALYST 800” manufactured by PerkinElmer Japan, model 373A DNA sequencer, etc.).

  By utilizing such a system, DNA nucleotide sequencing can be performed efficiently and safely. From the nucleotide sequences of the DNA of the present invention thus determined and the N-terminal amino acid sequence data of the heavy and light chains, the entire amino acid sequences of the heavy and light chains of the monoclonal antibody of the present invention are determined. Can do.

  Immunoglobulin heavy and light chains are both composed of a variable region and a constant region. The variable region is further referred to as a complementarity determining region (hereinafter referred to as “CDR”; 3 sites for each of the heavy chain and the light chain) and to them. Consists of adjacent framework regions (4 each for heavy and light chains).

Among these, the amino acid sequence of the constant region is common among antibodies having the same immunoglobulin subclass regardless of the type of antigen. On the other hand, the variable regions, particularly the amino acid sequences of CDRs, are unique to each antibody. However, according to studies comparing amino acid sequence data of many antibodies, the positions of CDRs and the length of framework sequences are the same. It is known that the antibody subunits belonging to the group are almost similar (Kabat, EA, et al., In "Sequence of Proteins of Immunological Interest Vol.II": US Department of Health and Human Services, (1991)). Therefore, for example, by comparing the amino acid sequences of the heavy and light chains of the anti-DC-STAMP monoclonal antibody with those known amino acid sequence data, the positions of CDRs, framework regions and constant regions in each amino acid sequence are determined. be able to. It should be noted that FRH ₁ , that is, the chain length of the most N-terminal framework region of the heavy chain, may be shorter than usual (30 amino acids). For example, the framework region is a minimum of 18 amino acids. (Supra Kabat et al.). Therefore, in the antibody of the present invention, the chain length of the N-terminal framework region of the heavy chain is 18 amino acids or more and 30 amino acids or less as long as the function as an anti-DC-STAMP antibody is not impaired. 30 amino acids.

  A peptide having the same amino acid sequence as that of each CDR of the light chain or heavy chain determined as described above, or a continuous partial amino acid sequence therein, is subjected to an artificial modification operation so that the CDR By approaching the three-dimensional structure formed in the DC-STAMP antibody molecule, it is possible to impart a binding activity to DC-STAMP alone [see, for example, US Pat. No. 5,331,573]. Therefore, a peptide having the same amino acid sequence as that of CDR or a contiguous partial amino acid sequence therein is also included in the molecule of the present invention.

  In preparing a modified form in which any one or two or more amino acids in the amino acid sequence are deleted, the cassette mutation method (Toshimitsu Kishimoto, “Neochemistry Experiment Course 2, Nucleic Acid III Recombinant DNA Technology” 242- 251).

  Such various DNAs can also be produced by chemical synthesis of nucleic acids according to conventional methods such as the phosphite triester method (Hunkapiller, M., et al., Nature (1984) 310, 105-111). it can. The codon for the desired amino acid is known per se and may be arbitrarily selected. For example, it can be determined according to a conventional method in consideration of the codon usage frequency of the host to be used. Partial modification of these nucleotide sequence codons is performed by site-specific mutagenesis using a primer composed of a synthetic oligonucleotide encoding the desired modification according to a conventional method (Mark, DF, et al. , Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (1984) 81, 5662-5666) and the like.

Whether or not a certain DNA hybridizes with DNA encoding the heavy chain or light chain of the anti-DC-STAMP monoclonal antibody of the present invention is determined by, for example, the random primer method (Feinberg, AP and Vogelstein, B , Anal. Biochem., (1983) 132, 6-13) and nick translation (Maniatis, T., et al., In "Molecular Cloning A laboratory Manual" Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY., (1982) ) And the like, using a probe DNA labeled with [α- ³² P] dCTP or the like, it can be examined by conducting an experiment as described below.

First, the DNA to be examined is adsorbed on, for example, a nitrocellulose membrane or nylon membrane, subjected to treatment such as alkali denaturation as necessary, and then solidified by heating or ultraviolet rays. This membrane is added to a prehybridization solution containing 6 × SSC (1 × SSC is 0.15 M sodium chloride, 0.015 M trisodium citrate solution), 5% Denhart solution, 0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). After soaking and incubating at 55 ° C. for 4 hours or longer, the previously prepared probe is added to the same prehybridization solution to a final specific activity of 1 × 10 ⁶ cpm / ml and incubated at 60 ° C. overnight. Thereafter, the operation of washing the membrane with 6 × SSC for 5 minutes at room temperature is repeated several times, and further washed with 2 × SSC for 20 minutes, followed by autoradiography.

  Using the method as described above, DNA that hybridizes with DNA encoding the heavy chain or light chain of the humanized anti-DC-STAMP antibody of the present invention is isolated from any cDNA library or genomic library. (Maniatis, T., et al., In "Molecular Cloning A laboratory Manual" Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY., (1982)).

  By incorporating each DNA obtained as described above into an expression vector, it can be introduced into a prokaryotic or eukaryotic host cell, and each gene can be expressed in those host cells. The expression method can be carried out by the same method as described in “(1) Preparation of antigen” in the section “6. Production of anti-DC-STAMP antibody”.

  A fraction containing the anti-DC-STAMP antibody protein produced inside or outside the transformant is separated by various known protein separation methods using the physical and chemical properties of the protein. -It can be purified. Specific examples of such methods include treatment with conventional protein precipitants, ultrafiltration, molecular sieve chromatography (gel filtration), adsorption chromatography, ion exchange chromatography, affinity chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC ), Etc., dialysis methods, and combinations thereof.

  In order to humanize the anti-DC-STAMP mouse monoclonal antibody, it is necessary to design the amino acid sequence of the variable region so that the entire determined CDR sequence and a part of the amino acid residues of the FR sequence are transplanted into the human antibody. is there. This design follows the following method.

Conventionally, when designing a humanization, as a guideline for selecting an acceptor subgroup, (a) a natural combination of a heavy chain and a light chain of a known human antibody having a natural amino acid sequence is used as it is.
(b) The combination as a subgroup to which the heavy chain and light chain belong is preserved, but the heavy chain and light chain are derived from different human antibodies, and have the same identity as the amino acid sequences of the donor heavy chain and light chain. Using high amino acid sequences or consensus sequences,
Either one is selected. In the present invention, the above guidelines can be followed, but as a method different from these,
(c) without considering the combination of subgroups, the heavy chain and light chain FRs having the highest identity with the donor FR are selected from a library of primary sequences of human antibodies.
It is also possible to adopt this method. By these selection methods, the identity of the amino acid in the FR portion between the donor and the acceptor can be at least 70% or more. By adopting this method, it is possible to reduce the number of amino acid residues to be transplanted from the donor, and to reduce HAMA response induction.

  In addition, the operation of predicting the tertiary structure from the primary sequence of an antibody molecule (hereinafter referred to as “molecular modeling”) has limited prediction accuracy, and amino acid residues that rarely appear in the subgroup to which the donor belongs. The role of can not be specified sufficiently. It is generally difficult to determine which donor or acceptor amino acid residue should be selected at such a position according to the method of Queen et al. According to the selection method (c), the opportunity to make such a determination can be significantly reduced.

  We further improved this humanization method by providing a novel method for identifying donor FR-derived amino acids important to maintain the structure and function of the donor CDRs. Yes.

  After selecting human acceptor molecules for each of the light and heavy chains, the method for selecting the amino acid residues to be transplanted from the donor's FR is as described below.

  When the amino acid sequences of the donor and acceptor are aligned and the amino acid residues are different at the corresponding positions of the FRs, it is necessary to determine which residue should be selected. It is necessary to make a selection so as not to impair the three-dimensional structure of the CDR.

Queen et al. In the above-mentioned Japanese translation of PCT publication No. 4-502408 proposed a method of transplanting to an acceptor together with a CDR sequence when an amino acid residue on the FR meets at least one of the following requirements:
1) The amino acid in the acceptor's human FR region is rare at that position and the corresponding amino acid of the donor is common at that position of the acceptor;
2) the amino acid is in the immediate vicinity of one of the CDRs;
3) It is expected that the amino acid will have a side chain atom within about 3 cm of the CDR in the three-dimensional immunoglobulin model and can interact with the antigen or with the CDR of the humanized antibody.

Here, since the residue shown in 2) often shows the property of 3), the requirement of 2) is deleted in the present invention, and two new requirements are newly provided. Thus, in the present invention, for the amino acid residues on the donor FR to be transplanted with the CDRs:
a) Is the amino acid in the acceptor's FR rare at that position and the donor's corresponding amino acid is common at that position;
b) whether the amino acid is predicted to interact with the constituent amino acid atoms of the CDR and the antigen or CDR loop to be transplanted in a three-dimensional structural model;
c) whether the position is a canonical class determining residue;
d) whether the position constitutes the contact surface of the heavy chain and the light chain,
The amino acid residue will be transplanted from the donor's FR.

  In the requirement a), in accordance with the above-mentioned Kabat table, amino acids found at a frequency of 90% or more at the relevant position for antibodies of the same subclass are defined as “ordinary” and amino acids found at a frequency of less than 10% are defined as “rare”. To do.

  In the requirement of c), “whether or not the position is a canonical class determining residue” can be uniquely determined according to the above-mentioned Chocchia table.

  Regarding the requirements of b) and d), molecular modeling of the antibody variable region is required in advance. Any commercially available software for molecular modeling can be used, but AbM (manufactured by Oxford Molecular Limited) can be preferably used.

  Since there is a certain limit to the prediction accuracy of molecular modeling, in the present invention, by referring to the experimental results of X-ray crystal analysis of the variable regions of various antibodies, the accuracy of structure prediction obtained from molecular modeling is improved. A distinction is made between two stages.

  In the present invention, in the three-dimensional structure of the variable region constructed by molecular modeling software such as AbM, the distance between two atoms is obtained by adding 0.5 Å to the sum of the van der Waals radii. When it was short, it was estimated that the two atoms were in van der Waals contact. When the distance between polar atoms such as amide nitrogen and carbonyl oxygen in the main chain and the side chain is shorter than the average hydrogen bond distance of 2.9 mm added by 0.5 mm, it was estimated that hydrogen bonds existed between them. Further, when the distance between the atoms having opposite valences is shorter than the distance obtained by adding 0.5 Å to 2.85。, it was estimated that an ion pair was formed between them.

  On the other hand, from the experimental results of X-ray crystal structure analysis of the variable regions of various antibodies, the positions on the FR where contact with the CDR is found frequently regardless of the subgroup, 4, 5, 23, 35, 36, 46, 48, 49, 58, 69, 71, 88 position, in heavy chain, 2, 4, 27, 28, 29, 30, 36, 38, 46, 47, 48, 49, 66, 67, 69, 71, 73, 78, 92, 93, 94, 103 positions are specified (all numbers are amino acid numbers defined in the above-mentioned Kabat et al. (Same below) When the same criteria as in molecular modeling are applied, the amino acid residues at these positions are found in contact with the CDR amino acid residues in two-thirds of the known antibody variable regions. Based on these findings, b) “the amino acid atom of the CDR is expected to interact with the antigen or the CDR loop to be transplanted in the three-dimensional structural model” means the following requirements: .

In molecular modeling, the position of the FR where the possibility of contact between the FR and the CDR is predicted matches one of the positions where the contact between the FR and the CDR is experimentally detected by X-ray crystallography. In some cases, transplantation of donor amino acid residues is preferred.
Otherwise, this requirement b) is not taken into account.

  The d) “the position constitutes the contact surface between the heavy chain and the light chain” means the following requirements. From the results of X-ray crystallographic analysis of the variable regions of various antibodies, amino acid residues 36, 38, 43, 44, 46, 49, 87, 98 in the light chain and 37, 39 in the heavy chain. , 45, 47, 91, 103, and 104, it is recognized that heavy-light chain contact is frequently made. In molecular modeling, the possibility of heavy-light chain contact is foreseen, and if that position matches any of the above positions, donor amino acid residue transplantation is preferred. Otherwise, this requirement d) is not taken into account.

  The DNA encoding the variable regions of the heavy and light chains of the humanized anti-DC-STAMP antibody of the present invention can be produced by the method described below.

  For example, a plurality of polynucleotide fragments of 60 to 70 nucleotides consisting of partial nucleotide sequences of the DNA are chemically synthesized so that they are staggered on the sense side and the antisense side, and then each polynucleotide fragment is annealed to obtain a DNA ligase. To obtain DNA having DNA encoding the variable regions of the heavy and light chains of the desired humanized anti-DC-STAMP antibody.

  Alternatively, DNA encoding the entire amino acid sequence of the acceptor variable region is isolated from human lymphocytes, and a restriction enzyme cleavage sequence is introduced into the CDR-encoding region by nucleotide substitution using methods well known to those skilled in the art. To do. After cleaving the region with the corresponding restriction enzyme, the nucleotide sequence encoding the donor CDRs is synthesized and ligated by DNA ligase to obtain the heavy and light chain variable regions of the desired humanized anti-DC-STAMP antibody. The encoding DNA can be obtained.

Furthermore, in the present invention, the heavy chain of the desired humanized anti-DC-STAMP antibody is preferably used according to the overlap extension PCR method described below (see Holton et al., Gene, 77 , 61-68, (1989)). And a DNA encoding the variable region of the light chain.

That is, two types of DNAs respectively encoding two types of amino acid sequences desired to be connected are referred to as (A) and (B) for convenience. (A) 20 to 40 nucleotide sense primer annealed to the 5 ′ side (hereinafter, this primer is referred to as (C)) and (B) 20 to 40 nucleotide antisense primer to be annealed to the 3 ′ side (Hereinafter, this primer is referred to as (D)). Furthermore, a chimeric sense primer (hereinafter referred to as (E)) in which 20 to 30 nucleotides on the 3 ′ side of (A) and 20 to 30 nucleotides on the 5 ′ side of (B) are linked, and A complementary antisense primer (hereinafter referred to as (F)) is synthesized. Appropriate vector DNA containing (A)
As a substrate, PCR is performed using the sense primer (C) and the chimeric antisense primer (F), so that 20 to 30 nucleotides on the 5 ′ end side of (B) are present at the 3 ′ end of (A). Added DNA can be obtained (this newly obtained DNA is referred to as (G)). Similarly, PCR is performed using an antisense primer (D) and a chimeric sense primer (E) using an appropriate vector DNA containing (B) as a substrate, so that (A) ) To which 20 to 30 nucleotides on the 3 ′ end side are added (this newly obtained DNA is referred to as (H)). The (G) and (H) thus obtained have complementary nucleotide sequences at the 3 ′ side 40 to 60 nucleotides of (G) and the 5 ′ side 40 to 60 nucleotides of (H). . When PCR is performed by mixing the amplified (G) and (H), (G) and (H) become a single strand in the first denaturation reaction, and most of the DNA is restored in the subsequent annealing reaction. However, some DNA forms a hetero DNA duplex that anneals in the complementary nucleotide sequence region. In the subsequent extension reaction, the protruding single-stranded portion is repaired, and a chimeric DNA in which (A) and (B) are linked (hereinafter, this DNA is referred to as (I)) can be obtained. Furthermore, by using this (I) as a substrate and performing PCR using a sense primer (C) and an antisense primer (D), (I) can be amplified. In the present invention, DNA encoding the heavy and light chain CDR regions of the anti-human DC-STAMP mouse monoclonal antibody, DNA encoding the FR region of human immunoglobulin IgG, and further encoding the secretion signal of human immunoglobulin IgG. The ligation reaction described above can be carried out on a case-by-case basis as (A) and (B), respectively.

  The codon for the desired amino acid is known per se and may be arbitrarily selected. For example, it can be determined according to a conventional method in consideration of the codon usage frequency of the host to be used. Partial modification of these nucleotide sequence codons is carried out in accordance with a conventional method using site specific mutagenesis (Mark, DF, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, (1984) 81, 5662-5666). Therefore, when each primer is chemically synthesized, each primer is designed so that a point mutation is introduced in advance, thereby obtaining DNA encoding the variable regions of the desired anti-DC-STAMP antibody heavy and light chains. be able to.

  Prokaryotic or eukaryotic host cells can be transformed by incorporating the DNAs of the present invention thus obtained into expression vectors. Furthermore, each gene can be expressed in each host cell by introducing an appropriate promoter and a sequence involved in expression into these vectors.

  By the above method, a recombinant anti-DC-STAMP antibody can be easily produced with high yield and high purity.

(4) Preparation of anti-DC-STAMP fully human antibody A fully human antibody means a human antibody having only the gene sequence of an antibody derived from a human chromosome. The anti-DC-STAMP fully human antibody is obtained by a method using a human antibody-producing mouse having a human chromosomal fragment containing H and L chain genes of a human antibody (Tomizuka, K. et al., Nature Genetics, (1977) 16 , 133-143; Kuroiwa, Y. et.al., Nuc. Acids Res., (1998) 26, 3447-3448; Yoshida, H. et.al., Animal Cell Technology: Basic and Applied Aspects, (1999) 10, 69-73 (Kitagawa, Y., Matuda, T. and Iijima, S. eds.), Kluwer Academic Publishers; Tomizuka, K. et.al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, (2000) 97, 722-727) and methods for obtaining human antibodies derived from phage display selected from human antibody libraries (Wormstone, IMet.al, Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science., (2002) 43 (7), 2301-8 ; Carmen, S. et.al., Briefings in Functional Genomics and Proteomics, (2002) 1 (2), 189-203; Siriwardena, D. et.al., Opthalmology, (2002) 109 (3), 427- 431 etc.).

  As a method for confirming that the human anti-DC-STAMP antibody thus produced specifically binds to DC-STAMP, for example, an ELISA method similar to that used for evaluating antibody titer during mouse immunization is preferable. It is.

7). Drugs containing anti-DC-STAMP antibody Neutralize the biological activity of DC-STAMP from among the anti-DC-STAMP antibodies obtained by the method described in the above section "6. Production of anti-DC-STAMP antibody" Antibody can be obtained. These antibodies that neutralize the biological activity of DC-STAMP inhibit the biological activity of DC-STAMP in vivo, that is, the differentiation and / or maturation of osteoclasts. It can be used as a therapeutic agent for bone metabolic disorders caused by abnormal differentiation.

  In vitro anti-DC-STAMP antibody neutralization activity of DC-STAMP biological activity can be measured, for example, by inhibiting the differentiation of cells into osteoclasts in cells overexpressing DC-STAMP. it can. For example, culturing mouse monocyte-derived cell lines RAW264.7 cells, RAW264 cells or RAW-D cells overexpressing DC-STAMP, adding anti-DC-STAMP antibodies at various concentrations to the culture system, And the activity of inhibiting differentiation into osteoclasts by TNF-α stimulation can be measured. In addition, anti-DC-STAMP antibodies can be added to bone marrow-derived primary cultured cells at various concentrations, and the activity of inhibiting differentiation into osteoclasts by RANKL and TNF-α stimulation can be measured. Furthermore, in a pit assay using cells derived from femur and / or tibia (Takada et al., Bone and Mineral, (1992) 17, 347-359), various kinds of cells derived from femur and / or tibia were used. The inhibitory activity of osteoclastic bone resorption activity can be measured by adding anti-DC-STAMP antibody at a concentration and observing the formation of pits on ivory slices. The therapeutic effect of bone marrow metabolism abnormalities of anti-DC-STAMP antibodies using in vivo experimental animals is, for example, administering anti-DC-STAMP antibodies to transgenic animals overexpressing DC-STAMP, This can be confirmed by measuring cell changes.

  Antibodies obtained by neutralizing the biological activity of DC-STAMP thus obtained are intended for the treatment of diseases caused by bone metabolism abnormalities such as osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and cancerous hypercalcemia. It is useful as a pharmaceutical composition, or as an antibody for immunological diagnosis of such diseases.

As one example, the anti-DC-STAMP antibody can be administered alone or together with a therapeutic agent for at least one bone-related disease for the treatment of abnormal bone metabolism. As another example, the anti-DC-STAMP antibody can be administered together with a therapeutically effective amount of an anti-bone metabolic disorder therapeutic agent. Therapeutic agents that can be administered with anti-DC-STAMP antibodies include bisphosphonates, active vitamin D ₃ , calcitonin and its derivatives, hormone preparations such as estradiol, SERMs (Selective estrogen receptor modulators), ipriflavone, vitamin K ₂ (menatetrenone) And calcium preparations, and the like. Depending on the condition of the bone metabolism disorder and how much treatment is desired, two, three or more types of drugs can be administered, and they are supplied together by encapsulating them in the same formulation be able to. These drugs and anti-DC-STAMP antibody can also be supplied together by encapsulating them in the same formulation. The drugs can also be supplied together by encapsulating them as a therapeutic kit. These drugs and anti-DC-STAMP antibody can also be supplied separately. When administered by gene therapy, the protein bone disease therapeutic agent gene and the anti-DC-STAMP antibody gene can be inserted simultaneously or separately downstream of the same promoter region, either separately or in the same vector. Can be introduced.

  By binding a bone disease therapeutic agent to an anti-DC-STAMP antibody or a fragment thereof, the target type described in MCGarnet "Targeted drug conjugates: principles and progress", Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, (2001) 53, 171-216 Drug conjugates can be produced. For this purpose, in addition to antibody molecules, any antibody fragment can be applied as long as the recognition of osteoclasts is not completely lost. For example, fragments such as Fab, F (ab ') 2, Fv, etc. As examples, antibodies and fragments thereof can be used in the present invention as well. The binding mode of an anti-DC-STAMP antibody or a fragment of the antibody and a bone disease therapeutic agent is described in MCGarnet `` Targeted drug conjugates: principles and progress '', Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, (2001) 53, 171-216, GTHermanson `` There can be various forms described in Bioconjugate Techniques "Academic Press, California (1996), Putnam and J. Kopecek" Polymer Conjugates with Anticancer Activity "Advances in Polymer Science (1995) 122, 55-123, and the like. That is, a mode in which an anti-DC-STAMP antibody and a bone disease therapeutic agent are bound chemically directly or via a spacer such as an oligopeptide, or a mode in which the anti-DC-STAMP antibody is bound via an appropriate drug carrier can be exemplified. . Examples of drug carriers include liposomes and water-soluble polymers. More specifically, these drug carriers are intervened in such a manner that the antibody and the bone disease therapeutic agent are included in the liposome, the liposome and the antibody are bound, and the bone disease therapeutic agent is highly soluble in water. For example, a mode in which an antibody is bound to a molecule (a compound having a molecular weight of about 1,000 to 100,000) chemically or directly via a spacer such as an oligopeptide and bound to the water-soluble polymer can be exemplified. Binding of antibodies (or fragments thereof) to drug carriers such as bone disease therapeutic agents, liposomes and water-soluble polymers is described in GTHermanson “Bioconjugate Techniques” Academic Press, California (1996), Putnam and J. Kopecek “Polymer Conjugates with Anticancer Activity "Advances in Polymer Science (1995) 122, 55-123. Inclusion of the bone disease therapeutic agent in the liposome can be carried out by methods well known to those skilled in the art such as the method described in D.D.Lasic “Liposomes: From Physics to Applications”, Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam (1993) and the like. The bone disease therapeutic agent is bound to a water-soluble polymer by methods well known to those skilled in the art, such as the method described in D. Putnam and J. Kopecek “Polymer Conjugates with Anticancer Activity” Advances in Polymer Science (1995) 122, 55-123. Can be implemented. The complex of the antibody (or the fragment) and the proteinaceous bone disease therapeutic agent (or the fragment) can be carried out by a method well known to those skilled in the art, in addition to the above method, by genetic engineering.

  The present invention also provides a pharmaceutical composition comprising a therapeutically effective amount of an anti-DC-STAMP antibody and a pharmaceutically acceptable diluent, carrier, solubilizer, emulsifier, preservative and / or adjuvant.

The present invention comprises a therapeutically effective amount of an anti-DC-STAMP antibody, a therapeutically effective amount of at least one bone disease therapeutic agent and a pharmaceutically acceptable diluent, carrier, solubilizer, emulsifier, preservative and / or Alternatively, a pharmaceutical composition comprising an adjuvant is also provided. As bone disease treatment agents, bisphosphonates, active vitamin D ₃ , calcitonin and its derivatives, hormone preparations such as estradiol, SERMs (selective estrogen receptor modulators), ipriflavones, vitamin K ₂ (menatetrenone), calcium preparations, PTH (parathyroid hormone ) Preparations, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents, anti-TNFα antibodies, anti-PTHrP (parathyroid hormine-related protein) antibodies, IL-1 receptor antagonists, anti-RANKL antibodies, OCIF (osteoclastogenesis inhibitory factor), etc. It is not limited.

  The substance used in the preparation acceptable in the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention is preferably non-toxic to the person receiving the pharmaceutical composition at the dose or concentration.

  The pharmaceutical composition of the present invention changes or maintains pH, osmotic pressure, viscosity, transparency, color, isotonicity, color, sterility, stability, dissolution rate, sustained release rate, absorption rate, and penetration rate. , And can contain a formulation substance for holding. Substances for formulation may include, but are not limited to: amino acids such as glycine, alanine, glutamine, asparagine, arginine or lysine, antibacterial agents, ascorbic acid, sodium sulfate or sodium bisulfite Antioxidants, phosphoric acid, citric acid, borate buffer, hydrogen carbonate, buffer such as Tris-Hcl solution, filler such as mannitol and glycine, chelating agent such as ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) , Caffeine, polyvinylpyrrolidine, complexing agents such as β-cyclodextrin and hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin, bulking agents such as glucose, mannose or dextrin, other carbohydrates such as monosaccharides and disaccharides, coloring agents, flavors Agents, diluents, hydrophilic polymers such as emulsifiers and polyvinylpyrrolidine, low Molecular weight polypeptides, salt-forming counterions, benzalkonium chloride, benzoic acid, salicylic acid, thimerosal, phenethyl alcohol, methylparaben, propylparaben, chlorexidine, sorbic acid or hydrogen peroxide preservatives, glycerin, propylene glycol or polyethylene Solvents such as glycol, alcohols such as mannitol or sorbitol, suspensions, sorbitan esters, polysorbites such as polysorbate 20 and polysorbate 80, interfaces such as triton, tromethamine, lecithin or cholesterol Active agents, stabilization enhancers such as sucrose and sorbitol, elasticity enhancers such as sodium chloride, potassium chloride and mannitol sorbitol, transport agents, diluents, excipients and / or pharmaceutical adjuvants. The addition amount of the substance for these preparations is preferably 0.01 to 100 times, particularly 0.1 to 10 times the weight of the anti-DC-STAMP antibody. The composition of a suitable pharmaceutical composition in the preparation can be appropriately determined by those skilled in the art according to the applicable disease, the applicable administration route, and the like.

  Excipients and carriers in the pharmaceutical composition may be liquid or solid. Appropriate excipients and carriers may be water for injection, physiological saline, artificial cerebrospinal fluid and other substances commonly used for parenteral administration. Neutral physiological saline or physiological saline containing serum albumin can also be used as a carrier. The pharmaceutical composition may contain Tris buffer with pH 7.0-8.5, acetate buffer with pH 4.0-5.5, and sorbitol and other compounds. Examples of the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention include a pharmaceutical composition containing an anti-DC-STAMP antibody and a pharmaceutical composition containing an anti-DC-STAMP antibody and at least one bone disease therapeutic agent. The pharmaceutical composition of the present invention Is prepared as a lyophilized product or liquid as a suitable drug with the required purity in the selected composition. A pharmaceutical composition containing an anti-DC-STAMP antibody and a pharmaceutical composition containing an anti-DC-STAMP antibody and at least one anti-bone metabolic disorder therapeutic agent are molded as a lyophilized product using an appropriate excipient such as sucrose. Can also be done.

  The pharmaceutical composition of the present invention can be prepared for parenteral administration or can be prepared for oral digestive tract absorption. The composition and concentration of the preparation can be determined by the administration method, and the affinity of the anti-DC-STAMP antibody for DC-STAMP, that is, the dissociation constant (Kd value for DC-STAMP) contained in the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention. ), The higher the affinity (the lower the Kd value), the smaller the dose to humans and the more effective the drug can be. Therefore, the dose of the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention to humans is determined based on this result. You can also When the human anti-DC-STAMP antibody is administered to a human, about 0.1 to 100 mg / kg may be administered once every 1 to 30 days.

  Examples of the form of the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention include injectable preparations including drips, suppositories, nasal preparations, sublingual agents, and transdermal absorption agents.

8). Search for Substances that Directly Interact Another aspect of the present invention is a drug design method based on the three-dimensional structure of the protein for the purpose of obtaining a substance that suppresses the activity of DC-STAMP. including. Such a technique is known as a rational drug design method, and is used to search for compounds that efficiently inhibit or activate functions such as enzyme activity and binding to ligands, cofactors, or DNA. ing. As an example of this, an inhibitor of protease, which is an anti-HIV agent already on the market, is well known. In the three-dimensional structural analysis of DC-STAMP of the present invention, generally well-known methods such as X-ray crystal analysis and nuclear magnetic resonance method can be used. Furthermore, for the search for substances that suppress the function of DC-STAMP, a design utilizing computer drug design (CADD) is also possible. As this example, a low molecular weight compound (International Patent Application Publication No. WO99 / 58515) that inhibits the action of AP-1 which is expected as a new genomic drug for treating rheumatoid arthritis is known. By such a method, a substance that suppresses the function of DC-STAMP can be obtained by directly binding to DC-STAMP or inhibiting the interaction between DC-STAMP and other factors.

  Furthermore, another embodiment relates to a polypeptide with which DC-STAMP of the present invention is associated, that is, a partner protein of DC-STAMP. That is, the present invention relates to a method for screening a partner protein that regulates the activity of DC-STAMP.

  One embodiment of this screening method includes the step of contacting a test protein sample with DC-STAMP and selecting a protein that binds to DC-STAMP. Examples of such a method include a method of performing affinity purification of a protein that binds to purified DC-STAMP using purified DC-STAMP. An example of a specific method is to prepare a fusion of DC-STAMP sequence consisting of 6 histidines as an affinity tag, and charge this to a cell extract (previously charged to a nickel-agarose column. Fraction passed through the column) is incubated at 4 ° C. for 12 hours, then nickel-agarose carrier is added separately to the mixture and incubated at 4 ° C. for 1 hour. After sufficiently washing the nickel-agarose carrier with a washing buffer, 100 mM imidazole is added to elute and purify the protein in the cell extract that specifically binds to DC-STAMP, and this structure is determined. In this way, proteins that directly bind to DC-STAMP and DC-STAMP have no binding activity, but indirectly form a complex with a protein that directly binds to DC-STAMP as a subunit. -Proteins that bind to STAMP can be purified (Experimental Medicine, separate volume, Biomanual Series 5 "Transcription Factor Research Method" 215-219 (Yodosha)).

  Other methods include far western blotting (experimental medicine separate volume, “New Genetic Engineering Handbook” 76-81 (published by Yodosha)), two-hybrid system method using yeast and mammalian cells (experimental medicine separate volume, Cloning by “New Genetic Engineering Handbook” 66-75 (published by Yodosha) and “Checkmate Manmarian Two Hybrid System” (manufactured by Promega) is also possible, but it is not limited to these methods.

  Thus, if a cDNA of a partner protein that interacts directly or indirectly with DC-STAMP is obtained, it can be used for functional screening of substances that inhibit the interaction between DC-STAMP and the partner protein. it can. Specifically, for example, a fusion protein of DC-STAMP and glutathione S-transferase is prepared and bound to a microplate covered with an anti-glutathione S-transferase antibody, and then the biotinylated partner protein is fused with this fusion protein. The protein is contacted, and the binding with the fusion protein is detected with streptavidinated alkaline phosphatase. When the biotinylated partner protein is added, a test substance is also added, and a substance that promotes or inhibits the binding between the fusion protein and the partner protein is selected. In this method, a substance that acts directly on the fusion protein or a substance that acts directly on the partner protein is obtained.

  When the binding between the fusion protein and the partner protein is indirect and is via some other factor, for example, the above assay is similarly performed in the presence of a cell extract containing the factor. In this case, a substance that acts on the factor may be selected.

  Further, when the obtained partner protein has the activity of promoting the function of DC-STAMP, according to the test method applying the DC-STAMP gene expression vector described above, For example, a candidate substance useful as a therapeutic agent for osteoporosis can be screened. In addition, when the obtained partner protein has an activity of suppressing the function of DC-STAMP, a polynucleotide having a nucleotide sequence encoding such a suppressor is useful for gene therapy of bone metabolism abnormality. Can be used.

  Such a polynucleotide can be obtained by, for example, analyzing the amino acid sequence of the identified inhibitor, synthesizing an oligonucleotide probe comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding the amino acid sequence, and screening a cDNA library or a genomic library. You can get it. In addition, when a peptide having an inhibitory activity on the function of DC-STAMP is derived from a randomly synthesized artificial peptide library, DNA consisting of a nucleotide sequence encoding the amino acid sequence of the peptide is chemically synthesized.

  In gene therapy, a gene encoding the inhibitor thus obtained is incorporated into, for example, a viral vector, and the patient is infected with a virus having the recombinant viral vector (detoxified). Since an anti-bone destruction factor is produced in the patient's body and has a function of suppressing the differentiation of osteoclasts, it becomes possible to treat bone metabolism abnormality.

  As a method for introducing a gene therapy agent into a cell, a gene introduction method using a viral vector or a non-viral gene introduction method (Nikkei Science, April 1994, pp. 20-45, Experimental Medicine Extra Number, 12 (15) (1994), any method of experimental medicine separate volume "Basic technology of gene therapy", Yodosha (1996)) can be applied.

  Examples of gene transfer methods using viral vectors include retroviruses, adenoviruses, adeno-associated viruses, herpes viruses, vaccinia viruses, poxviruses, polioviruses, simbisviruses and other DNA viruses or RNA viruses, and DC-STAMP inhibitors. Alternatively, there may be mentioned a method of introducing a DNA encoding the mutant. Of these, methods using retroviruses, adenoviruses, adeno-associated viruses, and vaccinia viruses are particularly preferred. Non-viral gene transfer methods include a method in which an expression plasmid is directly administered intramuscularly (DNA vaccine method), a liposome method, a lipofectin method, a microinjection method, a calcium phosphate method, an electroporation method, etc. The vaccine method and the liposome method are preferred.

  In addition, in order for a gene therapy agent to actually act as a medicine, an in vivo method in which DNA is directly introduced into the body and a certain type of cell from a human is taken out and introduced into the cell outside the body, and the cell is introduced into the body. There is an ex vivo method (Nikkei Science, April 1994, pages 20-45, Monthly Pharmaceutical Affairs, 36 (1), 23-48 (1994), Experimental Medicine Extra Number, 12 (15) (1994 )).

  For example, when the gene therapy agent is administered by an in vivo method, it is administered by an appropriate administration route such as intravenous, arterial, subcutaneous, intradermal, intramuscular, etc., depending on the disease, symptoms, and the like. When administered by an in vivo method, the gene therapy agent is generally an injection or the like, but a conventional carrier may be added if necessary. Moreover, when it is made into the form of a liposome or membrane fusion liposome (Sendai virus-liposome etc.), it can be set as liposome preparations, such as a suspension agent, a freezing agent, and a centrifugation concentration freezing agent.

  A nucleotide sequence complementary to the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 1 in the sequence listing or a nucleotide sequence complementary to a partial sequence of the sequence can be used for so-called antisense therapy. The antisense molecule is a DNA usually consisting of 15 to 30 mer, or its phosphorothioate, methylphosphonate or morpholino, complementary to a part of the nucleotide sequence selected from the nucleotide sequences shown in SEQ ID NOs: 1, 3 and 5 in the sequence listing. It can be used as a stable DNA derivative such as a derivative, and a stable RNA derivative such as 2′-O-alkyl RNA. Such antisense molecules can be introduced into cells by methods well known in the technical field of the present invention, such as microinjection, liposome encapsulation, or expression using a vector having an antisense sequence. Such antisense therapy is useful for the treatment of diseases caused by excessive increase in the activity of the protein encoded by the nucleotide sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 1 in the Sequence Listing.

  In addition, a method using double-stranded short RNA (siRNA) can also be mentioned (“Jeans and Developments”), January 15, 2001, Vol. 15, No. 2. No., p. 188-200). For example, an siRNA against a DC-STAMP gene is prepared and introduced according to a method described in the literature, whereby a therapeutic agent for a disease caused by abnormal bone metabolism caused by overexpression of DC-STAMP can be obtained.

  A composition useful as a medicine containing the antisense oligonucleotide and / or siRNA can be produced by a known method such as mixing a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. Examples of pharmaceutical carriers containing antisense oligonucleotides and methods of production are described in Applied Antisense Oligonucleotide Technology (1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.). The preparation containing the antisense oligonucleotide and / or siRNA is mixed with itself or appropriate pharmacologically acceptable excipients, diluents, etc., and tablets, capsules, granules, powders, syrups, etc. Can be administered orally or parenterally by injections, suppositories, patches, or external preparations. These formulations include excipients (eg sugar derivatives such as lactose, sucrose, sucrose, mannitol, sorbitol; starch derivatives such as corn starch, potato starch, alpha starch, dextrin; cellulose derivatives such as crystalline cellulose; Gum arabic; dextran; organic excipients such as pullulan; and silicate derivatives such as light anhydrous silicic acid, synthetic aluminum silicate, calcium silicate and magnesium metasilicate aluminate; phosphates such as calcium hydrogen phosphate; Carbonates such as calcium; inorganic excipients such as sulfates such as calcium sulfate; and lubricants (eg, stearic acid, calcium stearate, metal stearate such as magnesium stearate) Salt; talc; colloidal silica; bead wax; Waxes such as wax; boric acid; adipic acid; sulfate such as sodium sulfate; glycol; fumaric acid; sodium benzoate; DL leucine; lauryl sulfate such as sodium lauryl sulfate and magnesium lauryl sulfate; Silicic acids such as silicic acid hydrate; and the above-mentioned starch derivatives), binders (for example, hydroxypropylcellulose, hydroxypropylmethylcellulose, polyvinylpyrrolidone, macrogol, and the same as the above-mentioned excipients) And disintegrants (for example, cellulose derivatives such as low-substituted hydroxypropylcellulose, carboxymethylcellulose, carboxymethylcellulose calcium, internally crosslinked sodium carboxymethylcellulose; And starch, celluloses chemically modified such as sodium carboxymethyl starch and cross-linked polyvinyl pyrrolidone), emulsifiers (eg, colloidal clays such as bentonite and bee gum; magnesium hydroxide, hydroxylated Metal hydroxides such as aluminum; anionic surfactants such as sodium lauryl sulfate and calcium stearate; cationic surfactants such as benzalkonium chloride; and polyoxyethylene alkyl ethers, polyoxyethylene sorbitan fatty acids Nonionic surfactants such as esters and sucrose fatty acid esters), stabilizers (paraoxybenzoates such as methylparaben and propylparaben; chlorobutanol, benzyl alcohol, phenylethyl) Alcohols such as alcohol; benzalkonium chloride; phenols, phenols such as cresol; thimerosal; dehydroacetic acid; and sorbic acid and the. ), Flavoring agents (for example, commonly used sweeteners, acidulants, fragrances and the like), and additives such as diluents, and the like.

  In addition to the above, a colloidal dispersion system can be used as a method for introducing these drugs into a patient. The colloidal dispersion system is expected to have an effect of enhancing the stability of the compound in the living body and an effect of efficiently transporting the compound to a specific organ, tissue or cell. Colloidal dispersions are not limited as long as they are commonly used, but are based on lipids including polymer complexes, nanocapsules, microspheres, beads, and oil-in-water emulsifiers, micelles, mixed micelles and liposomes. Dispersed systems can be mentioned, preferably a plurality of liposomes, artificial membrane vesicles that are effective in efficiently transporting compounds to specific organs, tissues or cells (Mannino et al., Biotechniques, ( (1988) 6,682; Blume and Cevc, Biochem. Et Biophys. Acta, (1990) 1029, 91; Lappalainen et al., Antiviral Res., (1994) 23, 119; Chonn and Cullis, Current Op. Biotech., (1995 ) 6, 698).

  Unilamellar liposomes with a size range of 0.2-0.4 μm can encapsulate a significant proportion of aqueous buffer containing macromolecules, and the compounds are encapsulated in this aqueous inner membrane and biological It is transported to brain cells in an active form (Fraley et al., Trends Biochem. Sci., (1981) 6, 77). The composition of liposomes is usually a complex of lipids, especially phospholipids, especially phospholipids with a high phase transition temperature, usually combined with one or more steroids, especially cholesterol. Examples of lipids useful for liposome production include phosphatidyl compounds such as phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylserine, sphingolipid, phosphatidylethanolamine, cerebroside and ganglioside. Particularly useful is diacylphosphatidylglycerol, where the lipid moiety contains 14-18 carbon atoms, in particular 16-18 carbon atoms and is saturated (double bonds within the 14-18 carbon atom chain). Is missing). Exemplary phospholipids include phosphatidylcholine, dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine and distearoyl phosphatidylcholine.

  Targeting of colloidal dispersions, including liposomes, can be either passive or active. Passive targeting is achieved by taking advantage of the inherent propensity of liposomes to distribute to the reticuloendothelial cells of the organ containing sinusoidal capillaries. On the other hand, active targeting includes, for example, viral protein coats (Morishita et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, (1993) 90, 8474), monoclonal antibodies (or appropriate binding portions thereof), To attach specific ligands such as sugars, glycolipids or proteins (or appropriate oligopeptide fragments thereof) to liposomes, or to achieve distribution to organs and cell types other than the naturally occurring localized sites Examples of the method include modifying the liposome by changing the composition of the liposome. The surface of the targeted colloidal dispersion can be modified in various ways. In liposome-targeted delivery systems, lipid groups can be incorporated into the lipid bilayer of the liposome in order to maintain the target ligand in close association with the lipid bilayer. A variety of linking groups can be used to link the lipid chain to the target ligand. Target ligands that bind to specific cell surface molecules found predominantly on cells where delivery of the oligonucleotides of the invention is desired are, for example, (1) predominantly expressed by the cells where delivery is desired. Polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies that specifically bind to hormones, growth factors or appropriate oligopeptide fragments thereof, or (2) antigenic epitopes predominantly found on target cells, bound to specific cell receptors Or a suitable fragment thereof (e.g., Fab; F (ab ') 2). Two or more bioactive agents can be complexed and administered within a single liposome. Agents that enhance the intracellular stability and / or targeting of the contents can also be added to the colloidal dispersion.

The amount used varies depending on symptoms, age, etc., but in the case of oral administration, the lower limit is 1 mg (preferably 30 mg), the upper limit is 2000 mg (preferably 1500 mg), and in the case of injection, A lower limit of 0.1 mg (preferably 5 mg) and an upper limit of 1000 mg (preferably 500 mg) can be administered by subcutaneous injection, intramuscular injection or intravenous injection.

  EXAMPLES Hereinafter, although a reference example and an Example demonstrate this invention concretely, this invention is not limited to these.

Reference example 1. Establishment of RAW-D and RAW-N cells
a) Acquisition of RAW-D and RAW-N cells by limiting dilution culture When stimulating the mouse monocyte-derived cell line RAW264.7 with soluble RANKL, tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (hereinafter referred to as “TRAP”), cathepsin K, etc. It is known that gene expression of osteoclast differentiation marker is strongly induced (Hsu et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, (1999) 96, 3540-3545). Therefore, it is considered that RAW264.7 cells can be induced to differentiate into osteoclasts by stimulation with RANKL. Therefore, from RAW264 cells, which are the parent strain of RAW264.7 cells, an attempt was made to obtain subclone cells that are more sensitive to RANKL and TNF-α, that is, can be easily differentiated into osteoclasts by these stimulations (Watanabe et al. , J. Endocrinol., (2004) 180, 193-201). RAW264 cells can be purchased from the European Collection of Cell Culture (Catalog No. 85062803). RAW264 cells were limiting diluted using α-MEM medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum according to a conventional method, and seeded in 100 μl in a 96-well plate. The cells were cultured for 10 to 14 days, and the formed colonies were collected. For each colony, prepare 4.5 × 10 ⁴ cells / ml in α-MEM medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum in a 96-well plate, 150 μl / well, and human RANKL (manufactured by Peprotech) at a final concentration of 20 ng / ml and human TNF-α (manufactured by Peprotech) were added to a final concentration of 1 ng / ml. After culturing for 3 days, TRAP staining was performed using Leukocyte Acid Phosphatase kit (manufactured by Sigma) according to the attached protocol to confirm the presence or absence of TRAP-positive multinucleated osteoclasts. This series of cloning operations by limiting dilution culture was repeated twice for each colony.

  As a result, RAW-D cells that efficiently differentiate into osteoclasts by RANKL and TNF-α stimulation and RAW-N cells that do not differentiate into osteoclasts at all by RANKL and TNF-α stimulation were obtained.

b) Examination of osteoclast differentiation orientation of RAW-D and RAW-N cells by TRAP staining
We examined how RAW-D and RAW-N cells responded when stimulated with substances that induce osteoclasts such as RANKL and TNF-α. RAW-D, RAW-N and RAW264 were prepared in α-MEM medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum to 4.5 × 10 ⁴ cells / ml, and then placed in a 96-well plate at 150 μl / well, and human TNF-α (pepro (Tech) was added to a final concentration of 1 ng / ml, and human RANKL (Peprotech) was added to final concentrations of 10, 20, 40, and 80 ng / ml. After culturing for 3 days, TRAP staining was performed using Leukocyte Acid Phosphatase kit (manufactured by Sigma) according to the attached protocol, and the number of TRAP-positive multinucleated osteoclasts formed was counted. As a result, TRAP-positive multinucleated osteoclasts were formed in RAW-D depending on the concentration of added RANKL (Fig. 1). On the other hand, in RAW-N and the parent cell line RAW264, TRAP-positive osteoclast formation by addition of RANKL was not observed.

Example 1. mRNA expression of mouse DC-STAMP in RAW-D and RAW-N (Northern blot analysis)
a) Extraction of total RNA
Prepare RAW-D or RAW-N in α-MEM medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum to 7 × 10 ⁴ cells / ml and place 500 μl / well in a 24-well plate. Human RANKL (manufactured by Peprotech) To a final concentration of 20 ng / ml, human TNF-α (Peprotech) to a final concentration of 2 ng / ml and mouse MIP-1α (Peprotech) to a final concentration of 1 ng / ml Incubated for 3 days. In addition, culture without human RANKL (manufactured by Peprotech), human TNF-α and mouse MIP-1α was performed in the same manner.

  After completion of the culture, total RNA was extracted from RAW-D and RAW-N cultured under each condition by using a total RNA extraction reagent (TRIZol reagent: manufactured by Invitrogen) according to the attached protocol. The recovered total RNA was stored at -80 ° C.

b) Total RNA electrophoresis and blotting Collected total RNA from RNA sample buffer (1x MOPS buffer (1x MOPS buffer contains 20 mM MOPS, 8 mM sodium acetate, 1 mM EDTA), 50% formamide 18 μg / ml bromophenol blue, 5.8% formaldehyde, 5% glycerol) to 0.5 μg / μl, kept at 65 ° C. for 15 minutes, and then rapidly cooled on ice for 5 minutes. 20 μl of this sample solution was injected into one well of 1% agarose gel for electrophoresis containing formaldehyde (1 × MOPS buffer, 1.2% agarose (Sigma), 6% formaldehyde) and electrophoresed. Electrophoresis was performed by energizing at 100 V for about 3 hours in a submarine electrophoresis layer containing 1 × MOPS buffer.

After completion of electrophoresis, the RNA in the agarose gel was transferred to a nylon membrane (High Bond N +, Amersham) according to the capillary transfer method (Maniatis, T. et al., In "Molecular Cloning A Laboratory Manual" Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY, (1982)). Transferred overnight (manufactured by Pharmacia) (20 × SSC was used as the transfer solution). This membrane was washed with 2 × SSC for 5 minutes, air-dried, and the RNA was immobilized by irradiation with ultraviolet rays (300 mJ / cm ² ) using a crosslink ultraviolet irradiation device (Stratalinker 2400, manufactured by Stratagene).

c) Preparation of probe The nucleotide sequence shown in nucleotide numbers 457 to 1208 of mouse DC-STAMPΔT7 cDNA (SEQ ID NO: 5, GenBank accession number: AB109561) is the pGEM-T Easy vector (manufactured by Promega). The plasmid DNA inserted into the TA cloning site was converted to a linear DNA by NcoI (Takara Shuzo) digestion using the NcoI site present in the vicinity of the TA cloning site. An antisense RNA probe labeled with DIG (digoxigenin) was prepared by using DIG RNA labeling mix (Roche Diagnostics) and SP6 RNA polymerase (Roche Diagnostics) according to the attached protocol. . 20 units of RNase-free DNase I (manufactured by Roche Diagnostics) was added to the probe preparation solution to decompose the template DNA. Since the prepared RNA probe corresponds to the sequences of nucleotide numbers 457 to 1078 and 1247 to 1376 of SEQ ID NO: 3 (mouse DC-STAMP cDNA) in the sequence listing, both DC-STAMP and DC-STAMPΔT7 mRNAs are detected. Is possible.

d) Hybridization
Place the membrane prepared in b) in a 6 ml hybridization solution (DIG Easy Hyb Granules dissolved in double-distilled water according to the attached protocol: Roche Diagnostics) and incubate at 65 ° C for 15 minutes (pre-treatment) After hybridization, the cells were incubated in a 6 ml hybridization solution containing a DIG-labeled RNA probe at 65 ° C. for 16 hours. Thereafter, the membrane was washed twice in a solution containing 2 × SSC and 0.1% SDS at room temperature for 5 minutes, and further washed twice in a solution containing 0.5 × SSC and 0.1% SDS at 65 ° C. for 30 minutes. Next, the membrane was treated with Blocking solution (Blocking reagent dissolved in maleate buffer according to the attached protocol: manufactured by Roche Diagnostics) for 30 minutes, and then alkaline phosphatase-labeled anti-digoxigenin Fab fragment (0.075 units / ml) ( The solution was treated with a Blocking solution containing Roche Diagnostics) for 30 minutes. After that, wash with washing buffer (5 mM maleate buffer pH 7.5, 150 mM NaCl, 0.3% Tween 20) for 15 minutes three times, and add luminescent substrate CDP-Star (Roche Diagnostics) Then, analysis was performed with a lumino image analyzer (manufactured by Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd., LAS-1000 plus).

  As a result, when RANKL and TNF-α are not added, RAW-D hardly expresses mouse DC-STAMP, but when RANKL and TNF-α are added, the expression level of mouse DC-STAMP is markedly increased. It became clear that (Figure 2). The expression level of mouse DC-STAMP did not increase even when MIP-1α was further added.

  On the other hand, in RAW-N, almost no DC-STAMP expression was observed regardless of the addition of RANKL and TNF-α. In addition, the expression level of mouse Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) was similarly determined as a control.

Example 2. mRNA expression of mouse DC-STAMP in RAW-D (RT-PCR analysis)
Prepare RAW-D in α-MEM medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum at 7 × 10 ⁴ cells / ml in a 24-well plate, 500 μl / well, and human RANKL (manufactured by Peprotech) at a final concentration of 20 Add ng / ml, human TNF-α (manufactured by Peprotech) to a final concentration of 2 ng / ml and mouse MIP-1α (manufactured by Peprotech) to a final concentration of 1 ng / ml. , 8, 16, 32, 48, 72 hours.

Subsequently, total RNA was extracted from RAW-D at each culture point by using a total RNA extraction reagent (TRIZol reagent: manufactured by Invitrogen) according to the attached protocol. The recovered total RNA was stored at −80 ° C. until use. 1 μg total RNA and 1 μl oligo (dT) 18 primer (0.5 μg / μl) were made 11 μl with H ₂ O, heated at 70 ° C. for 10 minutes, and then kept at 4 ° C. To this solution, add 4 μl 5 × 1st Strand Buffer (Invitrogen), 1 μl 10 mM dNTPs, 2 μl 0.1 M dithiothreitol, 1 μl Superscript II reverse transcriptase (200 U / μl, Invitrogen), 1 μl H ₂ O to make a total volume of 20 μl. The mixture was reacted at 42 ° C for 1 hour, heated at 70 ° C for 10 minutes, and kept at 4 ° C.
The single-stranded cDNA thus prepared was amplified with the following primer combinations.
PCR conditions:
Mouse DC-STAMP and mouse DC-STAMPΔT7 amplification primers:
5'-aaaacccttg ggctgttctt-3 '(mDC-STAMP-F: SEQ ID NO: 7 in the sequence listing)
and
5'-cttcgcatgc aggtattcaa-3 '(mDC-STAMP-R: SEQ ID NO: 8 in the sequence listing),
Mouse cathepsin K amplification primer:
5'-gagggccaac tcaagaagaa-3 '(mcatK-F: SEQ ID NO: 9 in the sequence listing)
and
5'-gccgtggcgt tatacataca-3 '(mcatK-R: SEQ ID NO: 10 in the sequence listing),
Mouse TRAP amplification primers:
5'-cagctgtcct ggctcaaaa-3 '(mTRAP-F: SEQ ID NO: 11 in the sequence listing)
and
5'-acatagccca caccgttctc-3 '(mTRAP-R: SEQ ID NO: 12 in the sequence listing),
Mouse GAPDH amplification primers:
5'-aaacccatca ccatcttcca-3 '(mGAPDH-F: SEQ ID NO: 13 in the sequence listing)
and
5′-gtggttcaca cccatcacaa-3 ′ (mGAPDH-R: SEQ ID NO: 14 in the sequence listing).

PCR was performed under the following conditions using a thermal cycler (Genamp PCR System 9700, manufactured by PerkinElmer Japan Applied Biosystems Division). In the reaction, Platinum Taq DNA polymerase (Invitrogen) was used. First add 8 pmol of each primer, 20 ng single-stranded cDNA, 0.5 μl of 10 × Reaction buffer, 0.2 μl of 50 mM MgCl ₂ , 0.4 μl of 2.5 mM dNTP, 0.05 μl of 5 units / μl Taq DNA polymerase. The reaction solution was prepared to 5 μl with distilled water. This reaction solution was heated at 94 ° C. for 2 minutes, repeated at 30 ° C. for 0.5 minutes, at 65 ° C. for 1 minute, and at 72 ° C. for 1 minute, and then heated at 72 ° C. for 10 minutes and kept at 4 ° C. . The total amount of the reaction solution at this time was electrophoresed on a 2.0% agarose gel.

  The expression of DC-STAMP gene started to increase after 8 hours from the addition of RANKL, TNF-α and MIP-1α, and the increase in the expression level persisted until 72 hours (FIG. 3). Expression of DC-STAMPΔT7, a splicing variant with a short third exon, was also observed 16 hours after addition of RANKL, TNF-α and MIP-1α. In addition, increased expression of cathepsin K and TRAP genes, which are known as osteoclast marker molecules, was confirmed after 16 hours. In FIG. 3, the upper number shows the number of hours elapsed after addition of RANKL, TNF-α and MIP-1α, and the right side shows the size of the product amplified by the PCR reaction for each gene in base pairs. Yes.

Example 3. Mouse DC-STAMP mRNA expression in mouse bone marrow-derived primary cultured cells (RT-PCR analysis)
When mouse bone marrow-derived primary cultured cells are cultured in the presence of active vitamin D ₃ , many TRAP-positive multinucleated osteoclasts appear (Takahashi et al., Endocrinology, (1988) 122, 1373-1382).

Six-week-old male DDY mice were euthanized by cervical dislocation under ether anesthesia, and the femur and tibia were removed. After the soft tissue was removed, both ends of the femur or tibia were cut off, and serum-free α-MEM medium was injected into the bone marrow using a syringe with a 25 gauge needle, and bone marrow cells were collected. After counting the number of cells, 2 × 10 ⁶ cells / ml prepared in α-MEM medium containing 15% fetal bovine serum is plated in a 24-well plate at 500 μl / well, and active vitamin D ₃ (Biomol) is added. The final concentration was 1 × 10 ⁻⁸ M, and the ^cells were cultured for 1, 3, 5, and 6 days.

  Subsequently, total RNA was extracted from the cells at each culture time point by using a total RNA extraction reagent (TRIZol reagent: manufactured by Invitrogen) according to the attached protocol. The recovered total RNA was stored at −80 ° C. until use.

The RT-PCR reaction was performed using RNA LA PCR kit (AMV) Ver1.1 (manufactured by Takara Biochemicals). First, 2 μl 25 mM MgCl ₂ , 1 μl 10 × RNA PCR Buffer, 1 μl dNTP Mix (10 mM each), 0.25 μl RNase Inhibitor (40 U / μl), 0.5 μl reverse transcriptase (5 U / μl), 0.5 μl Oligo dT- Adapter primer (2.5 pmol / μl) and 1 μg total RNA were added, and a reaction solution was prepared with 10 μl with RNase Free dH ₂ O. The reaction solution was heated at 50 ° C. for 25 minutes, then heated at 99 ° C. for 5 minutes, and kept at 4 ° C. This single-stranded cDNA was amplified with the primer combination described in Example 2.
RT-PCR was performed under the following conditions using a thermal cycler (Gene Amp PCR System 9700). Add 1.5 μl 25 mM MgCl ₂ , 2 μl 10 × LA PCR Buffer II (Mg ²⁺ free), 0.125 μl Takara LA Taq (5 U / μl) and primer set (final concentration of 1 μM each) to 5 μl of reaction solution containing cDNA. The reaction solution was prepared to 25 μl with double-distilled water. The reaction solution was heated at 94 ° C. for 2 minutes, and then a temperature cycle of 94 ° C. for 30 seconds, 60 ° C. for 30 seconds, and 72 ° C. for 30 seconds was repeated 25 times, and kept at 4 ° C. Thereafter, 9 μl of the reaction solution was electrophoresed on a 2.0% agarose gel.

As a result, the DC-STAMP gene was only slightly expressed on the first day after addition of active vitamin D ₃ but markedly expressed on the third day when mononuclear osteoclast precursor cells are formed. However, remarkable expression was maintained even on the 5th and 6th days when multinucleation occurred actively (Fig. 4).

Moreover, although DC-STAMPΔT7 had a lower expression level than DC-STAMP, the change in the expression level showed the same time course as DC-STAMP. In FIG. 4, the upper numerical value indicates the number of days that have elapsed after the addition of active vitamin D ₃ .

Example 4 Production of Rabbit Anti-Mouse DC-STAMP Polyclonal Antibody In the mouse DC-STAMP amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 4, GenBank accession number: AB109560), the 6th to 7th transmembrane domains An attempt was made to produce a partial peptide of the mouse DC-STAMP protein based on the peptide consisting of the amino acid sequence represented by amino acid numbers 330 to 343 located between them. Partial peptide with one cysteine residue added to the N-terminus of the above sequence:
Cys Ser Leu Pro Gly Leu Glu Val His Leu Lys Leu Arg Gly Glu (SEQ ID NO: 15 in the Sequence Listing)
Was synthesized. This peptide was conjugated to antigen-stimulating carrier protein KLH (Keyhole limpet hemocyanin) by MBS (maleimidobenzoyloxysuccinimide) method and then immunized to rabbits to obtain rabbit antiserum according to conventional methods. The antiserum was purified using a peptide affinity column containing a partial peptide used for immunization, to obtain a rabbit anti-mouse DC-STAMP polyclonal antibody. Since DC-STAMPΔT7 (GenBank accession number AB109561) also has this peptide sequence, this antibody was considered to bind to both DC-STAMP and DC-STAMPΔT7. Furthermore, when this peptide sequence was compared with the sequence represented by amino acid numbers 330 to 343 in the human DC-STAMP amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO: 2, GenBank accession number: NM_030788), the 334rd Leu (mouse ) Was changed to Phe (human) and the 341st Arg (mouse) was changed to His (human), so it was considered that this antibody is likely to bind to human DC-STAMP.

Example 5. Immunostaining in newborn mouse tibia-derived osteoclasts
a) Collection of newborn mouse tibia-derived osteoclasts
The tibia was removed from a 1-day-old DDY mouse, the soft tissue was removed, and then minced in an α-MEM medium containing 15% fetal bovine serum using dissecting scissors. Thereafter, the cells were loosened and suspended by pipetting slightly and then seeded on a chamber slide (manufactured by Nalje Nunk International). After culturing for 1 hour, multinucleated cells adhered to the slide were used as osteoclasts.

b) Expression of DC-STAMP protein by immunostaining
The osteoclasts obtained in a) are fixed using a 4% paraformaldehyde solution at room temperature for 20 minutes, washed 4 times with phosphate buffer (pH 7.4), and then 3% goat serum is added. The blocking reaction was carried out with a phosphate buffer solution (pH 7.4) for 30 minutes at room temperature. After removing the blocking solution, a phosphate buffer solution (containing 1% horse serum) containing 10 μg / ml of rabbit anti-mouse DC-STAMP polyclonal antibody prepared in Example 4 was added and allowed to react at room temperature for 30 minutes. A non-immunized rabbit IgG antibody (Dako Japan) was prepared as a negative control, and the same operation was performed. The plate was washed four times with a phosphate buffer containing 1% horse serum, and reacted with cells at room temperature for 30 minutes using a biotinylated goat anti-rabbit IgG antibody (manufactured by Vector Laboratories) as a secondary antibody. After washing 4 times with a phosphate buffer, a color reaction was performed by using ABC-AP kit (Vector Laboratories) according to the attached protocol. As a result, strong staining was observed in the osteoclasts reacted with the anti-DC-STAMP antibody, which revealed that DC-STAMP was expressed in the neonatal mouse tibia-derived osteoclasts. In the case of using a negative control antibody, osteoclasts were not stained at all.

Example 6. Immunostaining in neonatal mouse mandibular tissue
a) Preparation of newborn mouse mandibular tissue specimen
One-day-old DDY mice were anesthetized with ether, and phosphate buffer (pH 7.4) containing 4% paraformaldehyde was injected from the left ventricle and fixed by perfusion. The mandible is removed, soaked in the above-mentioned phosphate buffer solution (pH 7.4) containing 4% paraformaldehyde, fixed at 4 ° C for 12 hours, washed 3 times with phosphate buffer solution, and further washed with phosphorus. Washing was performed overnight with acid buffer at 4 ° C. Thereafter, a decalcification reaction was carried out using 10% EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) at 4 ° C. for 1 week. After washing overnight at 4 ° C. in a phosphate buffer containing 30% sucrose, it was embedded using an OCT compound (manufactured by Sakura Finetech) and immersed in isopentane containing dry ice and frozen. The embedded block thus prepared was sliced into 10 μm using a cryomicrotome (Leica) to prepare a mandibular tissue section.

b) Expression of DC-STAMP protein by immunostaining
Water was removed from the mandibular tissue section prepared in a) by air drying, and then the endogenous peroxidase activity was lost by reacting with methanol containing 0.3% hydrogen peroxide at room temperature for 30 minutes. After washing three times with a phosphate buffer solution (room temperature, 5 minutes each), blocking was performed by reacting at room temperature for 30 minutes using a phosphate buffer solution containing 10% donkey serum. The blocking solution was removed, and a phosphate buffer solution (containing 2% donkey serum) containing 10 μg / ml of the rabbit anti-mouse DC-STAMP polyclonal antibody prepared in Example 4 was added and placed in a wet box at 4 ° C. overnight. Reacted. A non-immunized rabbit IgG antibody (Dako Japan) was prepared as a negative control, and the same operation was performed. After washing 3 times with phosphate buffer (room temperature, 5 minutes each), biotinylated donkey anti-rabbit IgG antibody (Jackson ImmunoResearch Laboratories) diluted 200-fold with phosphate buffer is used as the secondary antibody. Used, reacted at room temperature for 1 hour, washed 3 times with phosphate buffer (room temperature, 5 minutes each), and peroxidase-labeled streptavidin complex (manufactured by Dako Japan) diluted 300-fold with distilled water The reaction was allowed to proceed for 30 minutes at room temperature. After washing three times with a phosphate buffer (room temperature, 5 minutes each), a color reaction was carried out by using a DAB substrate kit (manufactured by Vector Laboratories) according to the attached protocol. As a result, in the mandibular tissue section reacted with anti-DC-STAMP antibody, strong staining was observed only in osteoclasts, and it was clear that DC-STAMP was expressed in osteoclasts derived from newborn mouse mandible It became. When a negative control antibody was used, no cells were stained.

Example 7. Inhibition of osteoclast differentiation by siRNA of RAW-D cells
a) Preparation of siRNA for mouse DC-STAMP gene Each mouse DC-STAMP siRNA with 2 bases (UU) added to the 3 'ends of the sense and antisense strands is a Silencer siRNA construction kit (Ambion) ) And prepared by transcription according to the attached protocol. The template oligo DNA set required for siRNA preparation is as follows.

First, the following template oligo DNA was used to prepare siRNA for the 5 'side of the third exon (corresponding to the seventh transmembrane region in the amino acid sequence deduced from the human DC-STAMP cDNA sequence) and mutations. A combination of was used.
siRNA # 135 template:
5'-aatactagga ttgttgtctt ccctgtctc-3 '(mDC-STAMP- # 135-AS: SEQ ID NO: 16 in the sequence listing)
and
5'-aagaagacaa caatcctagt acctgtctc-3 '(mDC-STAMP- # 135-S: SEQ ID NO: 17 in the sequence listing),
Mutant siRNA # 135 template:
5'-aatactagga gcgttgtctt ccctgtctc-3 '(mDC-STAMP- # 135-Mut-AS: SEQ ID NO: 18 in the sequence listing, nucleotide number 11 is mutated to g, 12 is mutated to c)
and
5'-aagaagacaa cgctcctagt acctgtctc-3 '(mDC-STAMP- # 135-Mut-S: SEQ ID NO: 19 in the sequence listing, nucleotide shown in nucleotide number 12 is a in g, nucleotide shown in 13 is a in c Mutated to.).

In addition, the following combination of template oligo DNAs is used for the preparation of siRNA and mutant siRNA for the cDNA sequence part specific to mouse DC-STAMP located 3 'from the part of siRNA (# 135) in the third exon. It was.
siRNA * 6 template:
5'-aattctcgtg tcagtctcct tcctgtctc-3 '(mDC-STAMP- * 6-AS: SEQ ID NO: 20 in the sequence listing)
and
5'-aaaaggagac tgacacgaga acctgtctc-3 '(mDC-STAMP- * 6-S: SEQ ID NO: 21 in the sequence listing),
Mutant siRNA * 6 template:
5'-aattctcgta ccagtctcct tcctgtctc-3 '(mDC-STAMP- * 6-Mut-AS: SEQ ID NO: 22 in the sequence listing, nucleotides shown in nucleotide number 9 have g as a, nucleotides shown in 10 have t as c Mutated to.)
and
5'-aaaaggagac tggtacgaga acctgtctc-3 '(mDC-STAMP- * 6-Mut-S: SEQ ID NO: 23 in the sequence listing, nucleotide shown in nucleotide number 13 is a in g, nucleotide shown in nucleotide number 14 is c Is mutated to t.)
b) Inhibition of osteoclast differentiation by siRNA of RAW-D cells
RAW-D prepared in an α-MEM medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum to 4.5 × 10 ⁴ cells / ml was seeded in a 96-well plate at 80 μl / well. The next day, the medium is changed to 80 μl of OPTI-MEM I medium (manufactured by Invitrogen), and the DC-STAMP siRNA and mutant siRNA prepared in a) are prepared to final concentrations of 0.1, 1, 5 nM, and are transfection reagents The cells were transfected using siPORT Lipid (Ambion) according to the attached protocol (20 μl added). In addition, a control (mock) of only transfection reagent without siRNA was also prepared. After transfection for 4 hours in a CO ₂ incubator, human RANKL (Peprotech) 40 ng / ml, human TNF-α (Peprotech) 2 ng / ml and 20% fetal calf serum -100 μl of MEM medium was added. After culturing for 3 days, TRAP staining was performed using Leukocyte Acid Phosphatase kit (manufactured by Sigma) according to the attached protocol, and the number of TRAP-positive multinucleated osteoclasts formed was counted. Unlike the case where mutant siRNA # 135 was added, the osteoclast formation was significantly suppressed at the addition concentrations of DC-STAMP siRNA # 135 of 0.1, 1, and 5 nM. When the addition concentration of the mutant siRNA was 5 nM, a slight osteoclast formation inhibitory effect was observed. However, when the addition concentration of the mutant siRNA was 0.1 and 1 nM, the osteoclast formation inhibitory effect was not observed. As a result, compared to the mock control (siRNA concentration = 0 nM) and the mutant siRNA, which is a negative control, both DC-STAMP siRNAs induced RAP-positive multinucleated osteoclast formation of RAW-D induced by RANKL and TNF-α. It was suppressed in a concentration-dependent manner (FIGS. 5A and 5B). Thus, suppression of DC-STAMP gene expression by siRNA suppressed the differentiation of RAW-D into osteoclasts, suggesting that DC-STAMP is an essential factor for osteoclast differentiation. It was done.

Example 8. Acquisition of mouse DC-STAMP open reading frame (ORF) cDNA clone
a) Extraction of total RNA from RAW-D
Prepare RAW-D in α-MEM medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum to 7 × 10 ⁴ cells / ml in a 24-well plate, 500 μl / well, and human RANKL (Peprotech) at a final concentration of 20 Add ng / ml, human TNF-α (manufactured by Peprotech) to a final concentration of 2 ng / ml and mouse MIP-1α (manufactured by Peprotech) to a final concentration of 1 ng / ml, and culture for 3 days did.

  Subsequently, total RNA was extracted from RAW-D by using a reagent for extracting total RNA (TRIZol reagent: manufactured by Invitrogen) according to the attached protocol. The recovered total RNA was stored at -80 ° C.

b) First strand cDNA synthesis
1 μg total RNA and 1 μl oligo (dT) 18 primer (0.5 μg / μl) were made 11 μl with H ₂ O, heated at 70 ° C. for 10 minutes, and then kept at 4 ° C. To this solution, add 4 μl 5 × 1st Strand Buffer (Invitrogen), 1 μl 10 mM dNTPs, 2 μl 0.1 M dithiothreitol, 1 μl Superscript II reverse transcriptase (200 U / μl, Invitrogen), 1 μl H ₂ O to make a total volume of 20 μl. The mixture was reacted at 42 ° C for 1 hour, heated at 70 ° C for 10 minutes, and kept at 4 ° C.

c) PCR reaction Primer for PCR amplification of mouse DC-STAMP and DC-STAMPΔT7 ORF cDNA
5'-tttgtcgaca tgaggctctg gaccttgggc accagtattt t-3 '(mDC-STAMP-cDNA-F: SEQ ID NO: 24 in the sequence listing)
and
5'-tttgcggccg ctcatagatc atcttcattt gcagggattg t-3 '(mDC-STAMP-cDNA-R: SEQ ID NO: 25 in the sequence listing),
An oligonucleotide having the following sequence was synthesized according to a conventional method. Using this primer combination, PCR was performed under the following conditions using a thermal cycler (Gene Amp PCR System 9700). Primers (final concentration of 1.0 μM each), 5 μl 10 × Pyrobest PCR buffer (manufactured by Takara Shuzo), 4 μl 2.5 mM dNTPs, 1 μl cDNA (b)), and 50 μl with double-distilled water. Furthermore, 0.5 μl of 5U / μl Pyrobest DNA polymerase (Takara Shuzo) was added to prepare a reaction solution. The reaction solution was first heated at 94 ° C. for 2 minutes, then repeated 30 times of a temperature cycle of 94 ° C. for 0.5 minute, 60 ° C. for 0.5 minute, and 72 ° C. for 5 minutes, and then heated at 72 ° C. for 10 minutes. Incubated at ℃.

d) Cloning into pCI-neo vector
The total amount of the PCR reaction solution obtained in c) was purified using a QIAquick PCR Purification Kit (Qiagen) according to the attached protocol. The obtained fragment was digested with restriction enzymes SalI and NotI, and then ligated using SalI and NotI-digested pCI-neo (Promega) and DNA Ligation Kit Ver.1 (Takara Shuzo). XL1-Blue MRF '(Stratagene) was transformed. From the thus obtained E. coli colonies, transformed E. coli carrying the plasmid pCI-neo-mouse DC-STAMP was isolated.

  As a result of analyzing the entire nucleotide sequence of the ORF cDNA inserted into the obtained plasmid using a DNA sequencer (ABI Prism 310 DNA sequencer manufactured by PerkinElmer Japan Applied Biosystems Division), SEQ ID NO: The sequence was found to be 26. This nucleotide sequence is identical to the ORF coding region of the sequence registered as “mouse DC-STAMP” (registration number: AB109560) in the NCBI GeneBank database, and the amino acid sequence encoded by the nucleotide sequence (sequence table) SEQ ID NO: 27) was 100% identical to the amino acid sequence of mouse DC-STAMP.

Example 9 Effect of forced expression of mouse DC-STAMP protein on osteoclast differentiation of RAW-D cells The plasmid of pCI-neo-mouse DC-STAMP obtained in Example 8 was derived from the CMV promoter derived from pCI-neo Under the control, the open reading frame sequence of mouse DC-STAMP is linked, so that the mouse DC-STAMP protein can be expressed by introducing this plasmid into the host.

  Gene transfer (transient transfection) of the expression plasmid into RAW-D was performed by the DEAE-dextran method.

  3 μg each of pCI-neo-mouse DC-STAMP or empty pCI-neo vector not incorporating anything, 50 μl of 10 mg / ml DEAE-dextran solution (Promega) and 950 μl of OPTI-MEMI (Invitrogen) Was added to prepare a transfection solution.

RAW-D (3.0 × 10 ⁶ cells) washed twice with serum-free α-MEM (10 ml) (200 × g, centrifuged for 5 minutes) was suspended in the transfection solution (1 ml). Incubate for 30 minutes in a CO ₂ incubator (37 ° C), then wash once with α-MEM (10 ml) without serum (centrifuge at 200 × g for 5 minutes), then add α-containing 5% fetal calf serum. Washed once with MEM (10 ml). The cells were sedimented by centrifugation at 200 × g for 10 minutes and resuspended in α-MEM (2 ml) containing 10% fetal calf serum. The cell concentration is measured with a hemocytometer, adjusted to a cell concentration of 4.5 × 10 ⁴ cells / ml, seeded in a 96-well plate at 0.15 ml / well, and human RANKL (manufactured by Peprotech) at a final concentration of 20 ng / ml, human TNF-α (manufactured by Peprotech) to a final concentration of 1 ng / ml, or after culturing for 3 days without adding Leukocyte Acid Phosphatase kit (manufactured by Sigma) Then, TRAP staining was performed according to the attached protocol, and the number of TRAP-positive multinucleated osteoclasts formed was counted. As a result, no TRAP-positive multinucleated osteoclasts were induced even when the mouse DC-STAMP protein was forcibly expressed in the absence of RANKL and TNF-α. Compared to when the pCI-neo vector was transfected into RAW-D, the formation of TRAP-positive multinucleated osteoclasts was significantly promoted by forced expression of mouse DC-STAMP protein (FIG. 6). This suggested that DC-STAMP is a factor that promotes osteoclast differentiation.

Example 10. Effect of addition of anti-mouse DC-STAMP polyclonal antibody on osteoclast differentiation of RAW-D cells RAW-D osteoclast differentiation using rabbit anti-mouse DC-STAMP polyclonal antibody prepared in Example 4 The impact on

Prepare RAW-D in α-MEM medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum at 4.5 × 10 ⁴ cells / ml in a 96-well plate, 150 μl / well, and human RANKL (Peprotech) at a final concentration of 20 ng / ml and human TNF-α (manufactured by Peprotech) were added to a final concentration of 1 ng / ml. To this cell culture supernatant, the rabbit anti-mouse DC-STAMP polyclonal antibody prepared in Example 4 was added to final concentrations of 0, 5, 10, and 20 μg / ml and cultured for 3 days, and then Leukocyte Acid Phosphatase kit (Sigma) TRAP staining was performed according to the attached protocol, and the number of TRAP-positive multinucleated osteoclasts formed was counted. As a result, the formation of TRAP-positive multinucleated osteoclasts was suppressed in a dose-dependent manner with the added anti-mouse DC-STAMP polyclonal antibody (FIG. 7). In addition, compared with the case where anti-mouse DC-STAMP polyclonal antibody was not added, when the antibody was added at 10 μg / ml or more, the formation of osteoclasts was significantly suppressed.

  Thus, since the formation of TRAP-positive multinucleated osteoclasts in RAW-D was suppressed by antibodies that are thought to specifically bind to DC-STAMP and DC-STAMPΔT7, DC-STAMP and DC-STAMPΔT7 It was suggested that it is deeply involved in cell differentiation.

Example 11. Effect of mouse anti-mouse DC-STAMP polyclonal antibody addition on osteoclast differentiation of mouse bone marrow-derived primary cultured cells
Six-week-old male DDY mice were euthanized by cervical dislocation under ether anesthesia, and the femur and tibia were removed. After the soft tissue was removed, both ends of the femur or tibia were cut off, and serum-free α-MEM medium was injected into the bone marrow using a syringe with a 25 gauge needle, and bone marrow cells were collected. After counting the number of cells, 2 × 10 ⁶ cells / ml prepared in α-MEM medium containing 15% fetal bovine serum is plated in a 24-well plate at 500 μl / well and active vitamin D ₃ (Biomol) is added. The final concentration was 1 × 10 ⁻⁸ M. To this cell culture supernatant, the rabbit anti-mouse DC-STAMP polyclonal antibody prepared in Example 4 was added to final concentrations of 0, 5, 10, and 20 μg / ml and cultured for 6 days, and then Leukocyte Acid Phosphatase kit (Sigma) TRAP staining was performed according to the attached protocol, and the number of TRAP-positive multinucleated osteoclasts formed was counted. As a result, the formation of TRAP-positive multinucleated osteoclasts was suppressed in a dose-dependent manner with the added anti-mouse DC-STAMP polyclonal antibody (FIG. 8). In addition, significant suppression was observed when the antibody was added at a concentration of 5 μg / ml and 20 μg / ml as compared with the case where the anti-mouse DC-STAMP polyclonal antibody was not added. Thus, since TRAP-positive multinucleated osteoclast formation from mouse bone marrow cells was suppressed by an antibody that specifically binds to DC-STAMP and DC-STAMPΔT7, DC-STAMP and DC-STAMPΔT7 are RAW- It was revealed that it is involved not only in cell lines such as D, but also in osteoclast differentiation of primary cultured cells closer to the living body.

Example 12. Effect mouse femur and tibia-derived cells into bone resorption lacunae formed by anti-mouse DC-STAMP polyclonal antibody addition, when cultured in active vitamin D ₃ presence ivory slices on the ivory surface by osteoclasts Is eroded and worm-like bone resorption pits are observed (Takada et al., Bone and Mineral 17, 347-359 (1992)).

14-day-old ICR mice (male and female) were euthanized by cervical dislocation under ether anesthesia, and the femur and tibia were removed. After removing the soft tissue, the bone was chopped with scissors in a 60 mm diameter dish containing 1 ml of DMEM medium containing 10% fetal calf serum until it became a hook. The mixture was transferred to a 15 ml centrifuge tube, 10 ml of DMEM medium containing 10% fetal calf serum was added, and the mixture was stirred for 30 seconds with a vortex mixer (MS equipment) and allowed to stand for 2 minutes. The supernatant was collected, the number of cells was counted, and the ivory slices (thickness 150-200μm, diameter 6mm) were prepared in DMEM medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum to 1 × 10 ⁷ cells / ml. 100 μl / hole was prepared in a 96-well plate spread with a 2) and cultured in a CO ₂ incubator for 4 hours. Thereafter, the medium was replaced with 200 μl of DMEM medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum, and active vitamin D ₃ (manufactured by Sigma) was added to a final concentration of 1 × 10 ⁻⁸ M (a non-addition group was also prepared). To this cell culture supernatant, the rabbit anti-mouse DC-STAMP polyclonal antibody prepared in Example 4 was added to final concentrations of 0, 2, 6, and 20 μg / ml and cultured for 4 days. After completion of the culture, the culture supernatant was removed from the plate containing ivory, distilled water was added and washed once, and distilled water was newly added. Using a polishing brush (manufactured by Tagaya Seisakusho) connected to a hand motor (manufactured by Tokyo Nakai Co., Ltd.), the cells adhering onto the ivory slice were detached. After washing twice with distilled water, the pits formed on the ivory surface were stained with acid hematoxylin solution (manufactured by Sigma) for 13 minutes and washed twice with distilled water. The ivory section was turned over and the pit area was measured under a microscope. As a method for measuring the total area of the pits, a micrometer (10 × 10 squares) attached to an eyepiece of a microscope was used, and the number of all squares (mesh) in which pits were present was counted to determine the pit area. As a result, the addition of active vitamin D ₃ formed many pits on ivory slices, but the pit formation was suppressed in a dose-dependent manner with the anti-mouse DC-STAMP polyclonal antibody added simultaneously (Fig. 9). . Thus, since the pit formation by mouse femur / tibia-derived osteoclasts was suppressed by the antibody that is considered to specifically bind to DC-STAMP and DC-STAMPΔT7, DC-STAMP and DC-STAMPΔT7 are It was suggested to be involved in the regulation of osteoclastic bone resorption activity.

Example 13. Expression of human DC-STAMP gene in giant cell tumor tissue Giant cell tumor (GCT) is a bone tumor in which a number of histologically osteoclast-type multinucleated giant cells appear, and is clinically The findings are characterized by osteolytic bone destruction (Bullough et al., Atlas of Orthopedic Pathology 2nd edition, 17.6-17.8, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Publishers (1992)). About EST probe (Affymetrix Genechip HG-U133 probe 221266_s_at: manufactured by Affymetrix) having nucleotide sequence partially overlapping with human DC-STAMP gene, expressed in GCT tissue using GeneLogic database (Genesis 2003 Release 2.0) Profile analysis was performed. In addition, RANK (Affymetrix Genechip HG-U133 probe 207037_at: Affymetrix) and RANKL (Affymetrix Genechip HG-U133 probe 210643_at: Affymetrix), which play an important role in osteoclast differentiation, An expression profile analysis in a GCT tissue was similarly performed for a certain cathepsin K (Affymetrix Genechip HG-U133 probe 202450_s_at: manufactured by Affymetrix) and TRAP (Affymetrix Genechip HG-U133 probe 204638_at: manufactured by Affymetrix).

  Comparison of expression levels in 9 normal bone tissues, 14 GCT tissues, and 10 bone tumor tissues other than GCT revealed that the transcription of RANK and RANKL was specifically increased in GCT tissues compared to normal tissues (Fig. 10A). On the other hand, in bone tumor tissues other than GCT, where bone resorption is not necessarily enhanced, RANK and RANKL transcription was significantly lower than in GCT, and the expression level was the same as in normal tissues. It was suggested that the environment promotes the formation and activation of bone cells. Further, when the expression levels of cathepsin K and TRAP were compared, it was significantly transcribed in GCT (FIG. 10B), suggesting that many osteoclasts with bone resorption activity appeared. Similarly, when the transcription amount of DC-STAMP was compared, it was revealed that GCT was specifically and highly transcribed as in RANK, RANKL, cathepsin K, and TRAP (FIG. 11). This suggests that DC-STAMP is also involved in human pathologies with increased bone resorption such as GCT.

Example 14. Effect of human anti-mouse DC-STAMP polyclonal antibody on human osteoclast formation When human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (HPBMC) were stimulated with RANKL in the presence of M-CSF and dexamethasone, TRAP Positive multinucleated osteoclasts are formed (Matsuzaki et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., (1998) 246, 199-204). HPBMC purchased from Takara Bio Inc. was prepared to 5 × 10 ⁶ cells / ml in α-MEM medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum, then 100 μl / well was prepared in a 96-well plate, and human M-CSF (R & D) (D Systems) final concentration 200 ng / ml, dexamethasone (Wako Pure Chemical Industries) final concentration 1 × 10 ^-7 M and human RANKL (Peprotech) final concentration 100 ng / ml The prepared medium was added to make 200 μl / well (a RANKL non-added group was also prepared). To this cell culture supernatant, the rabbit anti-mouse DC-STAMP polyclonal antibody prepared in Example 4 was added to a final concentration of 0, 2, and 6 μg / ml. After 4, 7 and 11 days of culture, the medium was changed and the sample was added. After 13 days of culture, TRAP staining was performed using Leukocyte Acid Phosphatase kit (Sigma) according to the attached protocol. The number of bone cells was counted. As a result, many osteoclasts were formed by RANKL stimulation, but formation of TRAP-positive multinucleated osteoclasts was suppressed in a dose-dependent manner with the anti-mouse DC-STAMP polyclonal antibody (FIG. 12). Thus, since anti-mouse DC-STAMP antibody suppressed TRAP-positive multinucleated osteoclast formation from HPBMC, DC-STAMP is involved not only in mice but also in human osteoclast differentiation. It was strongly suggested that

It is the graph which showed the differentiation to each osteoclast of each RAW264 subclone cell by RANKL stimulation. It is the figure which showed the expression of DC-STAMP m-RNA accompanying the differentiation of a RAW-D cell to an osteoclast. FIG. 3 shows the expression of DC-STAMP m-RNA in RAW-D cells stimulated with RANKL, TNFα, and MIP-1α. FIG. 3 shows the expression of DC-STAMP m-RNA in primary bone marrow cells stimulated with active vitamin D3. It is the graph which showed suppression of the differentiation from a RAW-D cell to an osteoclast by DC-STAMP siRNA. It is the graph which showed the osteoclast formation promotion from RAW-D cell by forced expression of DC-STAMP protein. It is the graph which showed the osteoclast formation inhibition from a RAW-D cell by an anti-DC-STAMP antibody. It is the graph which showed the osteoclast formation inhibition from the mouse | mouth bone marrow cell by an anti- DC-STAMP antibody. It is the graph which showed suppression of absorption fossa formation by an anti-DC-STAMP antibody. It is the graph which showed the expression profile of the human RANK, RANKL, cathepsin K, and TRAP gene in a giant cell tumor. It is the graph which showed the expression profile of the human DC-STAMP gene in giant cell tumor. It is the graph which showed the osteoclast formation inhibition from the human peripheral blood mononuclear cell by an anti- DC-STAMP antibody.

SEQ ID NO: 15-description of artificial sequence: synthetic partial peptide of mouse DC-STAMP SEQ ID NO: 16-description of artificial sequence: template DNA 1 of mouse DC-STAMP
SEQ ID NO: 17—Description of artificial sequence: template DNA 2 of mouse DC-STAMP
SEQ ID NO: 18—Description of artificial sequence: template DNA 3 of mouse DC-STAMP
SEQ ID NO: 19—Description of artificial sequence: template DNA 4 for mouse DC-STAMP
SEQ ID NO: 20—Description of artificial sequence: template DNA 5 of mouse DC-STAMP
SEQ ID NO: 21-Description of Artificial Sequence: Template DNA 6 for mouse DC-STAMP
SEQ ID NO: 22—Description of artificial sequence: template DNA 7 for mouse DC-STAMP
SEQ ID NO: 23—Description of artificial sequence: template DNA 8 for mouse DC-STAMP
SEQ ID NO: 24-description of artificial sequence: mouse DC-STAMP forward PCR primer SEQ ID NO: 25-description of artificial sequence: mouse DC-STAMP reverse PCR primer

Claims (11)

A pharmaceutical composition for treating bone metabolism disorders, comprising an antibody that specifically binds to DC-STAMP and suppresses osteoclast formation. At least one selected from the group consisting of a protein consisting of the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 2 in the sequence listing, a protein consisting of the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 4 and a protein consisting of the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 6 in the sequence listing A pharmaceutical composition for treating bone metabolism disorders, comprising an antibody that specifically binds to one protein and inhibits osteoclast formation. The pharmaceutical composition according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the antibody is a monoclonal antibody. The pharmaceutical composition according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the antibody is humanized. The pharmaceutical composition according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , wherein the antibody is a fully human antibody. The pharmaceutical composition according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the antibody is an IgG antibody. Bisphosphonate, active vitamin D ₃ , calcitonin and its derivatives, hormone preparations such as estradiol, SERMs (selective estrogen receptor modulators), ipriflavone, vitamin K ₂ (menatetrenone), calcium preparation, PTH (parathyroid hormone) preparation, non-steroidal anti-steroid It further contains at least one selected from the group consisting of an inflammatory agent, an anti-TNFα antibody, an anti-PTHrP (parathyroid hormone-related protein) antibody, an IL-1 receptor antagonist, an anti-RANKL antibody, and an OCIF (osteoclastogenesis inhibitory factor). The pharmaceutical composition according to any one of claims 1 to 6 , characterized in that. The pharmaceutical composition according to any one of claims 1 to 7 , wherein the bone metabolism abnormality is osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis or cancerous hypercalcemia. The pharmaceutical composition according to any one of claims 1 to 7 , wherein the bone metabolism disorder is osteoporosis. The pharmaceutical composition according to any one of claims 1 to 7 , wherein the bone metabolism disorder is rheumatoid arthritis. The pharmaceutical composition according to any one of claims 1 to 7 , wherein the bone metabolism disorder is cancerous hypercalcemia.