Neutrokine-alpha and Neutrokine-alpha splice variant

An isolated nucleic acid molecule comprising a polynucleotide having a nucleotide sequence at least 95% identical to a sequence selected from the group consisting of:

• (a) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide having the amino acid sequence consisting of residues n-285 of SEQ ID NO:2, where n is an integer in the range of 2-190
• (b) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide having the amino acid sequence consisting of residues 1-m of SEQ ID NO:2, where m is an integer in the range of 274-284;
• (c) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide having the amino acid sequence consisting of residues n-m of SEQ ID NO:2, where n and m are integers as defined respectively in (a) and (b) above;
• and
• (d) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide consisting of a portion of the complete Neutrokine-a amino acid sequence encoded by the cDNA clone contained in the deposit having ATCC accession number 97768, wherein said portion excludes from 1 to 190 amino acids from the amino terminus and from 1 to 11 amino acids from the C-terminus of said complete amino acid sequence.

An isolated Neutrokine-a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence at least 95% identical to a sequence selected from the group consisting of:

• (a) the amino acid sequence of the Neutrokine-a polypeptide having the complete amino acid sequence in FIGS. 1A and 1B (SEQ ID NO:2);
• (b) the amino acid sequence of the Neutrokine-a polypeptide having the complete amino acid sequence encoded by the cDNA clone contained in the deposit having ATCC accession number 97768;
• (c) the amino acid sequence of the Neutrokine-a polypeptide extracellular domain;
• (d) the amino acid sequence of the Neutrokine-a polypeptide transmembrane domain;
• (e) the amino acid sequence of the Neutrokine-a polypeptide intracellular domain;
• (f) the amino acid sequence of a soluble Neutrokine-a polypeptide comprising the domain;
• and
• (g) the amino acid sequence of an epitope-bearing portion of any one of the polypeptides of (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) or (f).

An isolated polynucleotide encoding a modified Neutrokine-a protein, wherein, except for at least one conservative amino acid substitution, said modified peptide has an amino acid sequence that is identical to a member selected from the group consisting of:

• (a) amino acids 1 to 285 of SEQ ID NO:2;
• (b) amino acids 2 to 285 of SEQ ID NO:2;
• (c) amino acids 1 to 46 of SEQ ID NO:2;
• (c) amino acids 47 to 72 of SEQ ID NO:2;
• and
• (c) amino acids 73 to 286 of SEQ ID NO:2.

A modified Neutrokine-a polypeptide molecule, wherein, except for at least one conservative amino acid substitution, said modified peptide has an amino acid sequence that is identical to a member selected from the group consisting of:

• (a) amino acids 1 to 285 of SEQ ID NO:2;
• (b) amino acids 2 to 285 of SEQ ID NO:2;
• (c) amino acids 1 to 46 of SEQ ID NO:2;
• (c) amino acids 47 to 72 of SEQ ID NO:2;
• and
• (c) amino acids 73 to 286 of SEQ ID NO:2.

An isolated nucleic acid molecule comprising a polynucleotide having a sequence at least 95% identical to a sequence selected selected from the group consisting of:

• (a) the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:7;
• (b) the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:8;
• (c) the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:9;
• (d) the nucleotide sequence of a portion of the sequence shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B (SEQ ID NO:1) wherein said portion comprises at least 30 contiguous nucleotides from nucleotide 1 to nucleotide 2442, excluding the sequence from nucleotide 1387 to 1421, the sequence from nucleotide 9 to 382, the sequence from nucleotide 1674 to 1996, the sequence from nucleotide 1401 to 1784, the sequence from nucleotide 900 to 1237, and any fragments located within these sequences;
• and
• (e) a nucleotide sequence complementary to any of the nucleotide sequences in (a), (b), (c) or (d) above.

An isolated nucleic acid molecule comprising a polynucleotide having a nucleotide sequence at least 95% identical to a sequence selected from the group consisting of:

• (a) a nucleotide sequence encoding the Neutrokine-aSV polypeptide having the complete amino acid sequence in FIGS. 5A and 5B (SEQ ID NO:19);
• (b) a nucleotide sequence encoding the Neutrokine-aSV polypeptide having the complete amino acid sequence encoded by the cDNA clone contained in the deposit having ATCC accession number 203518;
• (c) a nucleotide sequence encoding the Neutrokine-aSV polypeptide extracellular domain;
• (d) a nucleotide sequence encoding the Neutrokine-aSV polypeptide transmembrane domain;
• (e) a nucleotide sequence encoding the Neutrokine-aSV polypeptide intracellular domain;
• (f) a nucleotide sequence encoding a soluble Neutrokine-aSV polypeptide comprising the extracellular and intracellular domains but lacking the transmembrane domain;
• and
• (g) a nucleotide sequence complementary to any of the nucleotide sequences in (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) or (f) above.