Dade Behring Marburg Gmbh

Werner St&uuml;ber

Hermann Pelzer

Michael Kraus

The invention relates to synthetic peptides which have amino acid sequences which correspond, in whole or in part, to the amino acid sequence of prothrombin and are antigenic, to the use thereof for the immunization of an animal and for the purification of specific antibodies, to antibodies against these peptides, and to the use of the antibodies for the determination of the fragments F /F .

Synthetic peptides, antibodies directed against them, and the use thereof

The invention relates to synthetic peptides which have amino acid sequences which correspond, in whole or in part, to the amino acid sequence of prothrombin and are antigenic, to the use thereof for the immunization of an animal and for the purification of specific antibodies, to antibodies against these peptides, and to the use of the antibodies for the determination of the fragments F /F . The antibodies hitherto used for the determination of the content of the fragments F /F have been induced by immunization with natural, highly purified prothrombin fragments F /F . The isolation of these prothrombin fragments is elaborate and costly, and the antibodies generated therewith show cross-reactions with intact prothrombin. Used for the immunization according to the invention are synthetic peptides which have amino acid sequences which correspond, in whole or in part, to the amino acid sequence of prothrombin and are antigenic. The resulting antibodies react specifically with the antigen used for the immunization; if the peptides contain the carboxyl-terminal amino acid sequence of the fragments F /F resulting after cleavage of the prothrombin molecule with factor Xa, then the antibodies generated react specifically with the fragments F /F but not with intact natural prothrombin, so that information can be gained about the degree of activation of prothrombin.

Methods of obtaining antibody directed against prothrombin fragments F2/F1&plus;2

The present invention is directed to the generation of antibodies which preferentially bind to fibrinogen fragments E1, E2 and E3, but exhibit little or no cross-reactivity against fibrin monomer and fibrinogen. Thus, the invention provides synthetic peptides containing defined amino acid sequences corresponding to the carboxy terminal regions of the E fragments which arise as a result of plasmin cleavage of fibrin and fibrinogen. The synthetic peptides may be synthesized chemically, or through genetic manipulations, and may contain additional amino acid sequences which are not contiguous with the defined E fragment sequences.

Growing community of inventors

Lahntal, Germany

Werner Stüber

Growing community of inventors

Lahntal, Germany

Werner St&uuml;ber

Werner Stüber