Caspase-14, an apoptotic protease, nucleic acids encoding and methods of use

Abstract

The invention relates to an isolated nucleic acid molecule encoding a caspase-14 polypeptide or functional fragment thereof, a vector that contains the nucleic acid molecule and a host cell that contains the vector. The invention also relates to an isolated gene encoding caspase-14, as well as functional fragments thereof. The gene or nucleic acid molecule can include single or double stranded nucleic acids corresponding to coding or non-coding strands of the caspase-14 nucleotide sequence. Isolated caspase-14 polypeptides or functional fragments thereof are also provided, as are antibodies that specifically bind thereto. In addition, the invention relates to methods of identifying compounds that modulate caspase-14 activity.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . An isolated antibody that specifically binds a caspase-14 polypeptide having greater than 80% amino acid identity with SEQ ID No:2.  
     
     
         2 . An isolated antibody that specifically binds to a polypeptide comprising SEQ ID NO:2.  
     
     
         3 . An isolated antibody that specifically binds to a polypeptide comprising positions 1 to 156 of SEQ ID NO:2.  
     
     
         4 . An isolated antibody that specifically binds to a polypeptide comprising positions 163 to 257 of SEQ ID NO:2  
     
     
         5 . An antibody of any one of claims  1 - 4 , wherein said antibody is a monoclonal antibody.  
     
     
         6 . An antibody of any one of claims  1 - 4 , wherein said antibody is a polyclonal antibody.  
     
     
         7 . An isolated cell expressing the antibody of any one of claims  1 - 4 .