National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology

Mitsubishi Petrochemical Company Limited

Director-general of Agency of Industrial Science and Technology

Director General Agency of Industrial Science and Technology

Masashi Suzuki

Toru Imamura

Masahiro Asada

Syuichi Oka

Akiko Kuramochi

Tetsuhito Kojima

Chie Asada

Atsuko Yoneda

Keiko Ota

Yuko Oda

Kazuko Miyakawa

Noriko Orikasa

Makoto Imanari

Hiroshi Iwane

Naoki Suzuki

Yuriko Uehara

Mitsuko Kawano

Nozomi Tsujino

Miho Kimura

Junko Oki

Kaori Motomura

Fumiaki Nakayama

Sumie Togayachi

Azusa Kameyama

Yoshiro Hanyu

Makoto Akashi

Akiko Hagiwara

Using betaKlotho or a substance that increases or inhibits betaKlotho activity as an agent for controlling the activity of FGF21 mediated by an FGF receptor, the present invention provides a pharmaceutical composition comprising such betaKlotho or such substance as an active ingredient, particularly, a pharmaceutical composition for anti-metabolic syndrome, and further particularly, a pharmaceutical composition for therapeutic or preventive use associated with the control of blood glucose level. In addition, the present invention provides a screening system for each of a substance that enhances or suppresses betaKlotho activity, an FGF21-like active substance, and a betaKlotho-like active substance, which uses a cell system that has expressed an FGF receptor and/or betaKlotho on the surface thereof.

Method for screening a test substance for activating a receptor associated with FGF 21 activity

Disclosed is a mutant protein having an altered fibroblast growth factor receptor specificity, which is produced by deleting one or more amino acid residues from the N-terminus of the amino acid sequence of naturally secreted fibroblast growth factor 18. The protein mutant can be used in a pharmaceutical composition for regulating hair regeneration or growth or a pharmaceutical composition for regulating bone or cartilage formation.

Isolated mutant protein of fibroblast growth factor 18 and pharmaceutical composition comprising the same

A heparin-binding protein having covalently bonded heparan sulfate sugar chains within its molecule is produced by ligating a cDNA encoding a peptide which can be modified with heparan sulfate sugar chains selectively to a cDNA encoding a heparin-binding protein and producing in an animal cell the gene product of the resultant ligated cDNA. This heparan sulfate sugar chain-modified heparin-binding protein is functionalized by covalently bonding thereto glycosaminoglycan sugar chains containing little chondroitin sulfate. For example, this heparin-binding protein is excellent in stabilities, such as thermostability, acid resistance, alkali resistance and in vivo stability. Further, the heparan sulfate sugar chain-modified heparin-binding protein is effective in cell proliferation and tissue regeneration, and has effect of regulating the physiological functions of FGFs. Thus, this heparin-binding protein is extremely useful as a medicine for preventing or treating various FGF-related diseases.

Heparin-binding protein modified with heparan sulfate sugar chains, process for producing the same and pharmaceutical compositions containing the same

It is intended to elucidate the effect of promoting hair follicle growth and to provide the following therapeutic agents for hair-related problems (1) to (3):

Therapeutic agent for hair-related problems and method for screening for the same

A heparin-binding protein functionalized by covalently bonding thereto a sugar chain, a method for producing the protein and a pharmaceutical composition containing the protein as an active ingredient, as well as a method of functionalizing a natural protein having no sugar chain by covalently bonding thereto a sugar chain.

Heparin-binding proteins modified with sugar chains, method of producing the same and pharmaceutical compositions containing same

A heparin-binding protein functionalized by covalently bonding thereto a sugar chain, a method for producing the protein and a pharmaceutical composition containing the protein as an active ingredient, as well as a method for functionalizing a natural protein having no sugar chain by covalently bonding thereto a sugar chain.

Heparin-binding proteins modified with sugar chains, method of producing the same and pharmaceutical compositions containing the same

A process for preparing .alpha.-ketobutyric acid comprising contacting 1,2-butanediol with molecular oxygen in the presence of a platinum catalyst is disclosed. The process produces .alpha.-ketobutyric acid in high yield at low cost.

Process for preparing .alpha.-ketobutyric acid

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Ibaraki, Japan

Masashi Suzuki