Secreted salivary zsig32 polypeptides

Abstract

The present invention relates to polynucleotide and polypeptide molecules for secreted salivary zsig32 polypeptides. The polypeptides, and polynucleotides encoding them modulate adhesion or modulate or indicate salivary gland function. The present invention also includes antibodies and binding proteins for the zsig32 polypeptides.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . An isolated polypeptide comprising a sequence of amino acid residues that is at least 80% identical in amino acid sequence to residues 23-178 of SEQ ID NO:2.  
     
     
         2 . An isolated polypeptide according to  claim 1 , wherein said polypeptide is at least 90% identical in amino acid sequence to residues 23-178 of SEQ ID NO:2.  
     
     
         3 . An isolated polypeptide according to  claim 1 , wherein said polypeptide comprises residues 7-178 of SEQ ID NO:2.  
     
     
         4 . An isolated polypeptide according to  claim 1 , wherein said polypeptide comprises residues 1-178 of SEQ ID NO:2.  
     
     
         5 . An isolated polypeptide according to  claim 1 , wherein said polypeptide is at least 1 kb in length.  
     
     
         6 . An isolated polypeptide according to  claim 1 , covalently linked to a moiety selected from the group consisting of affinity tags, toxins, radionucleotides, enzymes and fluorophores.  
     
     
         7 . An isolated polypeptide according to  claim 7 , wherein said moiety is an affinity tag selected from the group consisting of polyhistidine, FLAG, Glu-Glu, glutathione S transferase and an immunoglobulin heavy chain constant region.  
     
     
         8 . An isolated polypeptide according to  claim 7  further comprising a proteolytic cleavage site between said sequence of amino acid residues and said affinity tag.  
     
     
         9 . An expression vector comprising the following operably linked elements: 
 a transcription promoter;    a DNA segment encoding a polypeptide comprising a sequence of amino acid residues that is at least 80% identical in amino acid sequence to residues 23-178 of SEQ ID NO:2; and    a transcriptional terminator.    
     
     
         10 . An expression vector according to  claim 9 , wherein said DNA segment encodes a polypeptide is at least 90% identical in amino acid sequence to residues 23-178 of SEQ ID NO:2.  
     
     
         11 . An expression vector according to  claim 9 , wherein said polypeptide encoded by said DNA segment comprises residues 7-178 of SEQ ID NO:2.  
     
     
         12 . An expression vector according to  claim 9 , wherein said polypeptide encoded by said DNA segment comprises residues 1-178 of SEQ ID NO:2.  
     
     
         13 . An expression vector according to  claim 9 , wherein said DNA segment encodes a polypeptide covalently linked to an affinity tag selected from the group consisting of polyhistidine, FLAG, Glu-Glu, glutathione S transferase and an immunoglobulin heavy chain constant region.  
     
     
         14 . An expression vector according to  claim 9  wherein said DNA further encodes a secretory signal sequence operably linked to said polypeptide.  
     
     
         15 . An expression vector according the  claim 9 , wherein said secretory signal sequence encodes residues 7-22 of SEQ ID NO:2.  
     
     
         16 . An expression vector according the  claim 9 , wherein said secretory signal sequence encodes residues 1-22 of SEQ ID NO:2.  
     
     
         17 . A cultured cell into which has been introduced an expression vector comprising the following operably linked elements: 
 a transcription promoter;    a DNA segment encoding a polypeptide comprising a sequence of amino acid residues that is at least 80% identical in amino acid sequence to residues 23-178 of SEQ ID NO:2; and    a transcriptional terminator, wherein said cell expresses said polypeptide encoded by said DNA segment.    
     
     
         18 . A method of producing a protein comprising: 
 culturing a cell into which has been introduced an expression vector comprising the following operably linked elements: 
 a transcription promoter;  
 a DNA segment encoding a polypeptide comprising a sequence of amino acid residues that is at least 80% identical in amino acid sequence to residues 23-178 of SEQ ID NO:2; and  
 a transcriptional terminator, whereby said cell expresses said protein encoded by said DNA segment; and  
 recovering said expressed protein.  
   
     
     
         19 . A pharmaceutical composition comprising a polypeptide that is at least 80% identical in amino acid sequence to residues 23-178 of SEQ ID NO:2, in combination with a pharmaceutically acceptable vehicle.  
     
     
         20 . An antibody that specifically binds to an epitope of a polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2.  
     
     
         21 . A binding protein that specifically binds to an epitope of a polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2.  
     
     
         22 . An isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide comprising a sequence of amino acid residues that is at least 80% identical in amino acid sequence to residues 23-178 of SEQ ID NO:2.  
     
     
         23 . An isolated polynucleotide according to  claim 22 , wherein said polypeptide is at least 90% identical in amino acid sequence to residues 23-178 of SEQ ID NO:2.  
     
     
         24 . An isolated polynucleotide according to  claim 22 , wherein said polypeptide comprises residues 7-178 of SEQ ID NO:2.  
     
     
         25 . An isolated polynucleotide according to  claim 22 , wherein said polypeptide comprises residues 1-178 of SEQ ID NO:2.  
     
     
         26 . An isolated polynucleotide according to  claim 22 , wherein said polypeptide is approximately 1 kb in length.  
     
     
         27 . An isolated polynucleotide according to  claim 22 , wherein said polynucleotide is from 471 to 853 nucleotides in length.  
     
     
         28 . An isolated polynucleotide according to  claim 22  comprising nucleotide 1 to nucleotide 534 of SEQ ID NO:20.  
     
     
         29 . An isolated polynucleotide according to  claim 22 , wherein said polynucleotide is DNA.  
     
     
         30 . An isolated polynucleotide selected from the group consisting of, 
 a) a sequence of nucleotides from nucleotide 168 to nucleotide 704 of SEQ ID NO:1;    b) a sequence of nucleotides from nucleotide 186 to nucleotide 704 of SEQ ID NO:2;    c) a sequence of nucleotides from nucleotide 234 to nucleotide 704 of SEQ ID NO:2;    d) a sequence of nucleotides from nucleotide 246 to nucleotide 704 of SEQ ID NO:2;    e) orthologs of a), b), c) or d);    f) degenerate sequences of a), b), c), d) or e); and    g) nucleotide sequences complementary to a) b) c), d), e) or f).    
     
     
         31 . An oligonucleotide probe or primer comprising 14 contiguous nucleotides of a polynucleotide of SEQ ID NO:20 or a sequence complementary to SEQ ID NO:20.  
     
     
         32 . A method for detecting a genetic abnormality in a patient, comprising: 
 obtaining a genetic sample from a patient;    incubating the genetic sample with a polynucleotide comprising at least 14 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO:1 or the complement of SEQ ID NO:1, under conditions wherein said polynucleotide will hybridize to complementary polynucleotide sequence, to produce a first reaction product;    comparing said first reaction product to a control reaction product, wherein a difference between said first reaction product and said control reaction product is indicative of a genetic abnormality in the patient.    
     
     
         33 . A DNA construct encoding a polypeptide fusion, said fusion comprising a secretory signal sequence selected from the group consisting of: 
 (a) amino acid residues 1-22 of SEQ ID NO:2; and    (b) amino acid residues 7-22 of SEQ ID NO:2;    wherein said secretory signal sequence is operably linked to an additional polypeptide.