Pentraxin I and Pentraxin receptor, inhibitors of said proteins and pharmaceutical compositions containing said compounds

摘要

Described are nucleic acid sequences encoding the human Pentraxin receptor and related proteins as well as a pharmaceutical composition comprising a therapeutically effective amount of (a) Pentraxin I or the human Pentraxin receptor, (b) a nonfunctional variant of the protein of (a), (c) an antibody to the protein of (a) or (b), (d) a nucleic acid sequence encoding the protein of (a) or (b), (e) an antisense RNA sequence characterized in that it is complementary to an Pentraxin I or human Pentraxin receptor mRNA and can selectively bind to said mRNA, said sequence being capable of inhibiting the synthesis of Pentraxin I or the human Pentraxin receptor, or (f) a ribozyme characterized in that it is complementary to an Pentraxin I or human Pentraxin receptor mRNA and can selectively bind to and cleave said mRNA, thus inhibiting the synthesis of Pentraxin I or the human Pentraxin receptor. Moreover, the use of the above compounds for treating neuronal disorders or providing a neuroprotective effect is described. The above compounds are also useful for detecting a disease associated with a neuronal disorder based on a deregulated expression of the above proteins or the presence of Pentraxin I/human Pentraxin receptor having no or at least reduced biological activity.