Human phermone polypeptides

An isolated polypeptide, comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of:

• the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2, the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:5, the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:8, and the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:11.

An isolated nucleic acid molecule, wherein the nucleic acid molecule encodes a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of:

• amino acid residues 16 to 175 of SEQ ID NO:2, amino acid residues 16 to 143 of SEQ ID NO:5, amino acid residues 16 to 179 of SEQ ID NO:8, and amino acid residues 16 to 264 of SEQ ID NO:11.

An expression vector, comprising a nucleic acid molecule that encodes the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2, a transcription promoter, and a transcription terminator, wherein the promoter is operably linked with the nucleic acid molecule, and wherein the nucleic acid molecule is operably linked with the transcription terminator.

An antibody or antibody fragment that specifically binds with a polypeptide that has an amino acid sequence consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2.

A method of detecting in a biological sample the presence of a nucleic acid molecule that encodes the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2, comprising:

• (a) contacting a nucleic acid probe under hybridizing conditions with either (i) test RNA molecules isolated from the biological sample, or (ii) nucleic acid molecules synthesized from the isolated RNA molecules, wherein the probe consists of a nucleotide sequence comprising a portion of the nucleotide sequence of nucleotides 1 to 525 of SEQ ID NO:1, or a complement thereof, and
• (b) detecting the formation of hybrids of the nucleic acid probe and either the test RNA molecules or the synthesized nucleic acid molecules,
• wherein the presence of the hybrids indicates the presence of a nucleic acid molecule that encodes the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 in the biological sample.