Hedgehog interacting proteins and uses related thereto

摘要

The present invention concerns the discovery of a new family of hedgehog binding proteins, refered to herein as "hedgehog interacting proteins" or "HIPs", which are demonstrated to bind to hedgehog polypeptides with high affinity. As described herein, the vertebrate HIP proteins exhibit spatially and temporally restricted expression domains indicative of important roles in hedgehog-mediated induction.