Angiogenesis related molecules

Abstract

The present invention provides the sequence of a protein capable of acting as an angiostatin receptor as well as the nucleic acid sequence thereof. The invention also relates to the use thereof in screening methods, wherein novel substances are created exhibiting the same advantageous anti-angiogenic properties as angiostatin.

1 . An antibody or antibody fragment which specifically binds an isolated mammalian protein having anti-angiogenic activity and that is a receptor for an N-terminal fragment of plasminogen comprising kringle domains 1-4 and/or 5 wherein said protein does not cleave plasminogen kringle domains and wherein said protein comprises an amino acid sequence having 80% sequence homology or greater to SEQ ID NO: 4.  
     
     
         2 . The antibody or antibody fragment according to  claim 1 , wherein said protein comprises an amino acid sequence wherein said sequence has 80% sequence homology or greater to SEQ ID No: 4 and has sequence homology equal to or greater than 80% to SEQ ID Nos: 2 or 3.  
     
     
         3 . The antibody or antibody fragment according to  claim 2 , wherein said protein comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 2.  
     
     
         4 . The antibody or antibody fragment according to  claim 2 , wherein said protein comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 3, and wherein the amino acid residue in position 135 is Asn, Ser or Asp and the three amino acid residues in positions 148 to 150 are the tripeptide Glu-Leu-Ala or the tripeptide Thr-Trp-Pro.  
     
     
         5 . The antibody or antibody fragment according to  claim 1 , wherein said protein comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO. 4.  
     
     
         6 . An antibody or antibody fragment to a peptide capable of binding an N-terminal fragment of plasminogen and which has an amino acid sequence comprising at least 10 contiguous amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO. 2.  
     
     
         7 . The antibody according to  claim 1  which is a monoclonal antibody or fragment thereof.  
     
     
         8 . The antibody according to  claim 2  which is a monoclonal antibody or fragment thereof.  
     
     
         9 . The antibody according to  claim 3  which is a monoclonal antibody or fragment thereof.  
     
     
         10 . The antibody according to  claim 4  which is a monoclonal antibody or fragment thereof.  
     
     
         11 . The antibody according to  claim 5  which is a monoclonal antibody or fragment thereof.  
     
     
         12 . The antibody according to  claim 6  which is a monoclonal antibody or fragment thereof.  
     
     
         13 . A recombinant cell expressing the antibody according to  claim 1 .  
     
     
         14 . A recombinant cell expressing the antibody according to  claim 2   
     
     
         15 . A recombinant cell expressing the antibody according to  claim 3 .  
     
     
         16 . A recombinant cell expressing the antibody according to  claim 4 .  
     
     
         17 . A recombinant cell expressing the antibody according to  claim 5 .  
     
     
         18 . A recombinant cell expressing the antibody according to  claim 6.