Pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A2 (PAPP-A2) polynucleotides

An isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide that

• (a) consists of amino acid residues 234-1791 of SEQ ID NO:
• 2 (mature pregnancy associated plasma protein A2 (PAPP-A2));
• or
• (b) is at least 95% sequence identical to the polypeptide of (a), and differs from the polypeptide of (a) solely by
• (i) deletion of 1-10 amino acid residues from, or addition of 1-10 residues to, the amino terminal, and/or
• (ii) deletion of 1-10 amino acid residues from, or addition of 1-10 residues to, the carboxy terminal, and/or
• (iii) one or more conservative substitutions;
• wherein said polypeptide has a proteolytic activity against Insulin Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 5 (IGFBP-5), and wherein said polynucleotide is operably linked to a polynucleotide having the sequence of nucleotides 5377-8527 of SEQ ID NO:
• 1.

An expression vector comprising the sequence of a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide that

• (a) consists of amino acid residues 234-1791 of SEQ ID NO:2 (mature pregnancy associated plasma protein A2 (PAPP-A2));
• or
• (b) is at least 95% sequence identical to the polypeptide of (a), and differs from the polypeptide of (a) solely by
• (i) deletion of 1-10 residues from, or addition of 1-10 residues to, the amino terminal, and/or
• (ii) deletion of 1-10 residues from, or addition of 1-10 residues to, the carboxy terminal, and/or
• (iii) one or more conservative substitutions;
• wherein said polypeptide has a proteolytic activity against Insulin Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 5 (IGFBP-5).

A method for expression of a polynucleotide in a recombinant host cell, the polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide that

• (A) consists of amino acid residues 234-1791 of SEQ ID NO:
• 2 (mature pregnancy associated plasma protein A2 (PAPP-A2));
• or
• (B) is at least 95% sequence identical to the polypeptide of (A), and differs from the polypeptide of (A) solely by
• (i) deletion of 1-10 amino acid residues from, or addition of 1-10 residues to, the amino terminal, and/or
• (ii) deletion of 1-10 amino acid residues from, or addition of 1-10 residues to, the carboxy terminal, and/or
• (iii) one or more conservative substitutions;
• wherein said polypeptide has a proteolytic activity against Insulin Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 5 (IGFBP-5), the method comprising the steps of
• (a) providing said polynucleotide, an expression vector, and a recombinant host cell,
• (b) cloning the polynucleotide into the expression vector,
• (c) transforming the recombinant host cell with the expression vector obtained in (b), and
• (d) expressing the polypeptide in the recombinant host cell obtained in (c).