Method of treating bladder cancer cells
AssigneeMerck & Co., Inc.
InventorsDavid C. Heimbrook, Allen I. Oliff, Steven M. Stirdivant, Janet Ahern
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Abstract
Methods and compositions for treating bladder cancer using TGF-alpha or EGF fused to PE.sub.40 or cysteine modified derivatives are taught. Also, a method of producing TGF-alpha-PE.sub.40 derivatives of enhanced potency is described.
Claims20
A method of treating bladder cancer comprising administering to a patient having bladder cancer a therapeutically effective amount of a hybrid protein selected from the group consisting of TGF-alpha-PE.sub.40 Ab, TGF-alpha-PE.sub.40 aB and TGF-alpha-PE.sub.40 ab, wherein "a" and "b" represent substitution of the cysteine residues at the A and B locus, respectively, with alanine or glycine residues.
A urea-free process for the preparation of a TGF-alpha-PE.sub.40 hybrid protein comprising the steps of harvesting a sufficient quantity of cells expressing a hybrid protein selected from the group consisting of TGF-alpha-PE.sub.40 Ab, TGF-alpha-PE.sub.40 aB and TGF-alpha-PE.sub.40 ab wherein "a" and "b" represent substitution of the cysteine residues at the A and B locus, respectively, with alanine or glycine residues;
- precipitating the expressed hybrid protein with ammonium sulfate;
- solublizing the precipitated protein;
- and
- purifying the soluble protein by affinity chromatography using a metal chelating chromatography column.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.