VARIANTS OF CILIARY NEUROTROPHIC FACTOR WITH ENHANCED RECEPTOR SELECTIVITY AND METHOD FOR THEIR SELECTION

摘要

The subject of the present invention are variants of ciliary neurotrophic factor with enhanced receptor selectivity (CNTFR), useful for the treatment of diseases and disorders including motor neuron diseases and muscle degenerati ve diseases. Another subject of the invention is to provide a method for identifying the above mentioned CNTF variants. The hCNTF variants with the amino acid substitutions in accordance with the present invention, have a reduced ability, as compared to the human CNTF, to elicit biological effects through soluble CNTFR, without affecting its ability to activate membrane- bound neuronal CNTF receptors, thereby improving its therapeutic properties. Fig. 1 shows the reduced CNTFR binding affinity of a CNTF variant according to the invention (IA-CNTF; SEQ ID NO:2). It is evident that the binding affinit y of this variant to the CNTFR is reduced as compared to the wild-type human CNTF molecule.