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Verity A Letts

Kevin P Campbell

Wayne N Frankel

Ricardo Felix

Gloria Biddlecome

Disclosed are mammalian nucleic acid sequences encoding a neuronal-specific subunit of a voltage-gated calcium channel. Specifically disclosed are &ggr; , &ggr; and &ggr; subunits. In other aspects, the disclosure relates to expression vectors which encode neuronal-specific subunits, as well as cells containing such vectors. In other aspects, the disclosure relates to antigenic fusion proteins comprising at least a portion of a mammalian neuronal-specific subunit of a voltage-gated calcium channel. Such fusion proteins are useful, for example, in the production of antibodies specifically reactive with the subunits of the invention. The nucleic acid sequences of the invention find application, for example, in screening for compounds which modulate the activity of neuronal voltage-gated calcium channels and also in diagnostic methods for diagnosing the autoimmune disease Lambert-Eaton Syndrome, as well as diagnosing defects in &ggr; subunit genes of a patient with a neuronal disease such as epilepsy. An additional application of the nucleic acid sequences of the invention is in therapeutic methods of treatment for such disorders.

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Bar Harbor, ME, United States of America

Verity A Letts