G.d. Searle & Company

Pharmacia Corporation

Dean James Welsch

Carol Pearcy Howard

Gwen Grabowski Krivi

Kevin L Duffin

Scott David Hauser

Olga V Nemirovskiy

Teresa Sunyer

David Paul Creely

Dawn R Dufield

A method for identifying and quantifying peptides resulting from enzyme cleavage of collagen type II by mass spectrometric analysis to detect characteristic peptide fragments of a carboxy-terminus having known mass to charge ratios to identify the peptide having that carboxy-terminus. Identification and quantification of the peptides in a biological sample is used to assess activity of proteolytic enzymes in diseases or physiological conditions such as osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis and to assess the efficacy of enzyme blocking agents.

Peptide biomarker and method of identification

DNAs which encode human LTC.sub.4 synthase and expression vectors comprising such DNAs are provided. DNAs encoding human LTC.sub.4 synthase may be used in assay methods of the invention for detecting LTC.sub.4 synthase inhibitors. Nucleic acid probes capable of identifying cDNAs and/or genomic DNAs encoding LTC4 synthase, as well as LTC.sub.4 antisense oligonucleotides and analogs which may be administered to viable cells to inhibit production of LTC.sub.4 synthase are also provided.

Nucleic acids and expression vectors encoding human leukotiene C.sub.4

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St. Peters, MO, United States of America

Dean James Welsch