The present invention concerns several splice variants of a Chordin like homologues (CHL2) and depicts their nucleic acid and amino acid sequences, vectors and host cells containing said nucleic acid sequences and antibodies reactive with the amino acid sequences. The invention also concerns pharmaceutical compositions for the treatment of a plurality of diseases, comprising nucleic acid sequences, amino acid sequences, expression vectors and antibodies. The invention also concerns methods for detecting the above nucleic acid or amino acid sequences or antibodies in a biological sample.