Pharmaceutical compositions and methods of using secreted frizzled related protein

A method for identifying a test compound that regulates sFRP activity, which method comprises determining activity of sFRP incubated in a medium containing a test compound, wherein an increase in activity relative to sFRP alone indicates the compound is an sFRP activator and a decrease in activity indicates the compound is an sFRP inhibitor.

A method of facilitating bone formation or repair in a bone cell, comprising introducing a recombinant construct expressing an antisense, siRNA, shRNA sequence to a nucleotide sequence that encodes an sFRP-1 into bone cells.

A method of diagnosing a bone disease or disorder, the method comprising using a polynucleotide probe capable of hybridizing with the polynucleotide having the nucleic acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:

• 1 to detect the presence or absence of an sFRP in a sample derived from a mammalian host.

A pharmaceutical composition for regulating bone-forming activity in a mammal comprising at least one antibody to a secreted frizzled related protein (sFRP) or regulating portion thereof.

A method for identifying a test compound that modulates sFRP activity, which method comprises comparing the phenotypic changes induced by the test compound on a sFRP +/+ animal with the phenotypic changes induced by the test compound on a sFRP −/− animal, wherein a phenotypic change in the sFRP +/+animal relative to the sFRP −/− animal indicates the compound is a modulator of sFRP activity.

An immortalized human osteoblast (hOB) cell that expresses a temperature-sensitive mutant of simian virus 40 large T protein antigen, wherein the cell proliferates at about 34° C. but does not proliferate at temperatures exceeding about 37° C., when the T-antigen mutant is inactive.