Inhibitor of vascular endothelial cell growth factor
AssigneeMerck & Co., Inc.
InventorsRichard L. Kendall, Kenneth A. Thomas JR.
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Abstract
The vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors of the present invention are naturally occurring or recombinantly engineered soluble forms with or without a C-terminal transmembrane region of the receptor for VEGF, a very selective growth factor for endothelial cells. The soluble forms of the receptors will bind the growth factor with high affinity but do not result in signal transduction. These soluble forms of the receptor bind VEGF and inhibit its function.
Claims18
A soluble VEGF inhibitor in substantially pure form which specifically binds VEGF and inhibits cellular VEGF receptor activity.
An expression vector comprising a promoter, and a DNA sequence encoding a soluble VEGF inhibitor for expression in recombinant host cells wherein the soluble VEGF inhibitor is selected from the group consisting of sVEGF-RI, sVEGF-RII, sVEGF-RTMI and sVEGF-RTMII.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.