Adipocyte complement related protein homolog zacrp2

Abstract

The present invention relates to polynucleotide and polypeptide molecules for zacrp2, a novel member of the family of proteins bearing a collagen-like domain and a Clq domain. The polypeptides and polynucleotides encoding them, are involved in dimerization or oligomerization and may be used in the study thereof. The present invention also includes antibodies to the zacrp2 polypeptides.

1 . An antibody or antibody fragment that specifically binds to an isolated polypeptide comprising a sequence of amino acid residues that is at least 95% identical in amino acid sequence to residues 40-285 of SEQ ID NO:2, wherein said sequence comprises:
 Gly-Xaa-Xaa or Gly-Xaa-Pro repeats forming a collagen domain, wherein said Xaa is any amino acid; and   a carboxyl-terminal Clq domain comprising 10 beta strands.   
     
     
         2 . The antibody or antibody fragment according to  claim 1 , wherein said antibody is selected from the group consisting of:
 a) polyclonal antibody;   b) murine monoclonal antibody;   c) humanized antibody derived from b); and   d) human monoclonal antibody.   
     
     
         3 . The antibody fragment according to  claim 1 , wherein said antibody fragment is selected from the group consisting of F(ab′), F(ab), Fab′, Fab, Fv, scFv, and minimal recognition unit. 
     
     
         4 . An anti-idiotype antibody that specifically binds to said antibody of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         5 . A method of producing the antibody according to  claim 1 , comprising:
 inoculating an animal with the polypeptide according to  claim 1 ,   wherein the polypeptide elicits an immune response in the animal to produce the antibody; and   isolating the antibody from the animal.