PROCESS FOR PRODUCING CD44 SURFACE PROTEIN VARIANTS, DNA SEQUENCES ENCODING THEM AND ANTIBODIES AGAINST THEM, AS WELL AS THEIR APPLICATION IN DIAGNOSIS AND THERAPY

摘要

The inventon relates to antibodies that react with a variant epilope in the extracellular region of a variant CD44 polypeptide, wherein the variant epitope has the amino acid sequence: I S S T I S T T P R A P D H T K Q N Q D W T Q W N P S H S N P E V L L Q T T T R M T D V D R N G T T A Y E G N W N P E A H P P L I H H E H H E E E E T P H S T S T I O A T P S S T T E E T A T Q K E Q W F G N R W H E G Y R Q T P R E D S H S T T G T A A A S A H T S H P M Q G R T T P S P E D S S W T D F F N P I S H P M G R G H Q A G R R (residues 53-219 of SEQ ID NO:4). Methods of using the antibodies to identify variant epitopes also are provided.