Other

Clark Colledge

Baldomero M Olivera

Lourdes J Cruz

Craig S Walker

Jean E Rivier

David R Hillyard

Maren Watkins

R Tyler McCabe

Li-Ming Zhou

Richard T Layer

Julita S Imperial

Alma L Burlingame

Elsie C Jimenez

Gregory S Shen

Reshma Shetty

Michael Fainzilber

Karel S Kits

Fe C Abogadie

This invention relates to relatively short peptides about 25-40 residues in length, which are naturally available in minute amounts in the venom of the cone snails or analogs to the naturally available peptides, and which include three cyclizing disulfide linkages and one or more &ggr;-carboxyglutamate residues. More specifically, the present invention is directed to &ggr;-conopeptides having the general formula I: Xaa -Cys-Xaa -Cys-Xaa -Xaa -Cys-Cys-Xaa -Cys-Xaa -Cys-Xaa (SEQ ID NO:1), as described herein; or having the general formula II: Xaa -Cys-Xaa -Cys-Xaa -Xaa -Cys-Cys-Xaa -Xaa -Cys-Xaa -Cys-Xaa (SEQ ID NO:2), as defined herein; or having the general formula III: Xaa -Cys-Xaa -Cys-Xaa -Xaa -Xaa -Cys-Cys-Ser-Asn-Ser-Cys-Asp-Xaa -Cys-Xaa (SEQ ID NO:3), as described herein; or having the general formula IV: Xaa -Cys-Xaa -Cys-Xaa -Xaa -Xaa -Cys-Cys-Ser-Asn-Ser-Cys-Asp-Xaa -Cys-Xaa (SEQ ID NO:4), as described herein; or having the general formula V: Xaa -Xaa -Cys-Xaa -Xaa -Phe-Xaa -Cys-Thr-Xaa -Ser-Xaa -Cys-Cys-Ser-Asn-Ser-Cys-Asp-Gln-Thr-Tyr-Cys-Xaa -Leu-Xaa (SEQ ID NO:5), as described herein. The invention further relates to specific &ggr;-conopeptides, specific pro-&ggr;-conopeptides and nucleic acids encoding the pro-&ggr;-conopeptides. The invention also includes pharmaceutically acceptable salts of the conopeptides. These conopeptides are useful as agonists of neuronal pacemaker calcium channels.

Gamma-conopeptides

The present invention is directed to conantokin peptides, conantokin peptide derivatives and conantokin peptide chimeras, referred to collectively as conantokins, having 10-30 amino acids, including preferably two or more &ggr;-carboxyglutamic acid residues. The conantokins are useful for the treatment of neurologic and psychiatric disorders, such as anticonvulsant agents, neuroprotective agents or analgesic agents.

Conantokins

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Draper, UT, United States of America

Clark Colledge