Novel protease gene

An antibody that immunologically recognizes a peptide selected from a group consisting of:

• (i) a peptide consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1,
• (ii) a peptide comprising the peptide described in (i),
• (iii) a peptide that has an amino acid sequence homologous to the peptide described in (i) at about 40% or more, and has an activity of degrading synthetic substrate Mcc-Pro-Leu-Gly-Pro-D-Lys(DNP)—OH,
• (iv) a peptide modified by mutation such as deletion, substitution, addition or insertion of one or several amino acids in the peptide described in (i), (ii) or (iii), and has an activity of degrading synthetic substrate Mcc-Pro-Leu-Gly-Pro-D-Lys(DNP)—OH, and
• (v) a peptide having an amino acid sequence that consists of four consecutive amino acids or more of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1.

A method for identifying a compound that interacts with a peptide selected from a group consisting from (i) to (v) to decrease or increase its activity, and/or a compound that interacts with a polynucleotide selected from a group consisting from (vi) to (viii) to decrease or increase its expression, wherein the method uses at least one selected from a group consisting of the peptide, the polynucleotide, a recombinant vector comprising the polynucleotide, plasmid pDEST17-hNZMP (FERM BP-7269), a transformant obtained by using the recombinant vector or the plasmid, and an antibody that immunologically recognizes the peptide:

• (i) a peptide consisting of the amino acid sequence show by the sequence listing,
• (ii) a peptide comprising the peptide described in (i),
• (iii) a peptide that has an amino acid sequence homologous to the peptide described in (i) at about 40% or more, and has an activity of degrading synthetic substrate Mcc-Pro-Leu-Gly-Pro-D-Lys(DNP)—OH,
• (iv) a peptide modified by mutation such as deletion, substitution, addition or insertion of one or several amino acids in the peptide described in (i), (ii) or (iii), and has an activity of degrading synthetic substrate Mcc-Pro-Leu-Gly-Pro-D-Lys(DNP)—OH,
• (v) a peptide having an amino acid sequence that consists of four consecutive amino acids or more of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1,
• (vi) a polynucleotide consisting of abase sequence of SEQ ID NO:
• 2,
• (vii) a polynucleotide encoding each of the peptides described in (i)-(v) or a polynucleotide that hybridizes to the polynucleotide under stringent conditions, and
• (viii) a polynucleotide consisting of a base sequence that consists of at least twelve consecutive bases of the base sequence of the polynucleotide encoding the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 or a complementary strand thereto.

A pharmaceutical composition comprising any one selected from the group consisting of the following peptides (i)-(v), the following polynucleotides (vi)-(viii), recombinant vectors containing the polynucleotides, plasmid pDEST17-hNZMP (FERM BP-7269), transformants obtained by using the recombinant vectors or the plasmids, and antibodies that immunologically recognize the peptides:

• (i) a peptide consisting of the amino acid sequence show by SEQ ID NO:1,
• (ii) a peptide comprising the peptide described in (i),
• (iii) a peptide that has an amino acid sequence homologous to the peptide described in (i) at about 40% or more, and has an activity of degrading synthetic substrate Mcc-Pro-Leu-Gly-Pro-D-Lys(DNP)—OH,
• (iv) a peptide modified by mutation such as deletion, substitution, addition or insertion of one or several amino acids in the peptide described in (i), (ii) or (iii), and has an activity of degrading synthetic substrate Mcc-Pro-Leu-Gly-Pro-D-Lys(DNP)—OH,
• (v) a peptide having an amino acid sequence that consists of four consecutive amino acids or more of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1,
• (vi) a polynucleotide consisting of the base sequence of SEQ ID NO:2,
• (vii) a polynucleotide encoding each of the peptides described in (i)-(v) or a polynucleotide that hybridizes to the polynucleotide under stringent conditions, and
• (viii) a polynucleotide consisting of a base sequence that consists of at least twelve consecutive bases of the base sequence of the polynucleotide encoding the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 or a complementary strand thereto.

A method for diagnosing diseases that relate to the expression or activity of a peptide selected from a group consisting of the following peptides (i)-(v), comprising analyzing for a peptide selected from a group consisting of the following peptides (i)-(v) or a polynucleotide selected from the group consisting of the following polynucleotides (vi)-(viii) as a marker:

• (i) a peptide consisting of the amino acid sequence show by SEQ ID NO:1,
• (ii) a peptide comprising the peptide described in (i),
• (iii) a peptide that has an amino acid sequence homologous to the peptide described in (i) at about 40% or more, and has an activity of degrading synthetic substrate Mcc-Pro-Leu-Gly-Pro-D-Lys(DNP)—OH,
• (iv) a peptide modified by mutation such as deletion, substitution, addition or insertion of one or several amino acids in the peptide described in (i), (ii) or (iii), and has an activity of degrading synthetic substrate Mcc-Pro-Leu-Gly-Pro-D-Lys(DNP)—OH,
• (v) a peptide having an amino acid sequence that consists of four consecutive amino acids or more of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1,
• (vi) a polynucleotide consisting of the base sequence of SEQ ID NO:2,
• (vii) a polynucleotide encoding each of the peptides described in (i)-(v) or a polynucleotide that hybridizes to the polynucleotide under stringent conditions, and
• (viii) a polynucleotide consisting of a base sequence that consists of at least twelve consecutive bases of the base sequence of the polynucleotide encoding the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 or a complementary strand thereto.