Merck Patent Gesellschaft

Eucro European Contract Research Gmbh & Co. Kg

Susanne Klumpp

Roland Kellner

Josef Krieglstein

The invention relates to a combination of a protein phosphatase type 2C as an enzyme and a phospho-BAD as substrate. The protein BAD is dephosphorylated in position Ser. Furthermore, the combination is used in an in vitro screening for ligands which modulate protein phosphatase type 2C, comprising the steps: incubating the protein phosphatase type 2C in combination with the substrate phospho-BAD and the ligand of the assay and detecting the decrease in phospho-BAD and/or the increase in phosphate and/or BAD. Therefore, new drugs for the treatment apoptosis may be found.

Substrate for PP2C

The invention relates to a novel enzyme, histidine protein phosphatase, which is derived from mammalian sources, and its homologue variants. The invention further relates to DNA sequences encoding said proteins, to a process for preparing the latter, and to antibodies directed against them. The novel phosphatase can be used for diagnosis of pathological states of cell regulation and cell growth and as pharmaceutical drug which can be administered in conjunction with pathological disorders related to malfunctions of said enzyme.

Growing community of inventors

Marburg, Germany

Susanne Klumpp