Astellas Pharma Gmbh

Other

Noboru Yamaji

Kunitake Abe

Kouichi Nishimura

Tetsuo Matsui

Miyuki Katou

Osamu Ohara

Takahiro Nagase

Nobuo Nomura

Masayoshi Takeda

A screening tool and a screening method for a therapeutic agent for type II diabetes, particularly an agent for alleviating insulin resistance are disclosed. A novel polypeptide, a polynucleotide, a vector, a promoter, and a transformant which are useful in the screening tool and the screening method, are also disclosed.

Polypeptide

A novel polypeptide, a polynucleotide encoding this polypeptide, an expression vector comprising this polynucleotide, a cell transfected with the expression vector, an antibody binding to the above polypeptide, a convenient screening method for obtaining an agent for treating joint diseases, and a process for manufacturing a pharmaceutical composition for treating joint diseases are disclosed. The polypeptide is a novel aggrecanase causative of joint diseases (particularly an OA disease).

Aggrecanase

This invention provides a novel metalloprotease having an aggrecanase activity which causes joint diseases, a gene coding for this metalloprotease, a promoter of the above metalloprotease, a method for screening a drug with the use of the above metalloprotease and a pharmaceutical composition for inhibiting degradation of proteoglycans, which comprises as the active ingredient a substance capable of inhibiting the aggrecanase activity of the above metalloprotease.

Metalloprotease having aggrecanase activity

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Ibaraki, Japan

Noboru Yamaji