| 主权项 |
1. A method for promoting cartilage growth in a patient in need thereof, comprising administering to the patient an effective amount of a recombinant protein comprising an amino acid sequence at least 75% identical to the 102 amino acid cysteine-knot domain of GDF-5 or a fragment of said recombinant protein, wherein
a) the amino acid at the position corresponding to methionine 453 (M453) of human wild-type GDF-5 (SEQ ID NO: 1) is alanine, valine or isoleucine, and/or b) the amino acid at the position corresponding to methionine 456 (M456) of human wild-type GDF-5 (SEQ ID NO: 1) is alanine, valine or isoleucine, and further wherein the recombinant protein or the fragment of said recombinant protein has an improved biological activity of at least 120% when compared to the mature GDF-5 protein. |
