Claims
- 1. A computer-readable medium comprising a plurality of digitally encoded values representing the levels of expression of a plurality of genes listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7 during bone or cartilage formation.
- 2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, comprising values representing levels of expression of at least 5 genes listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7 during bone or cartilage formation.
- 3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, comprising values representing levels of expression of CLF-1 and MMP23 during bone or cartilage formation.
- 4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, comprising values representing levels of expression of a plurality of genes listed in Table 6.
- 5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising at least one value representing a level of expression of at least one gene that is up-or down-regulated during bone or cartilage formation in a precursor cell.
- 6. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, comprising at least one value representing a level of expression of at least one gene that is up-or down-regulated during a particular stage of bone or cartilage formation.
- 7. The computer-readable medium of claim 6, comprising values representing levels of expression of at least one of Cyr61, Col2a1, Runx2, and Ctsk during bone or cartilage formation.
- 8. The computer-readable medium of claim 6, comprising values representing levels of expression of a plurality of genes listed in Table 7.
- 9. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, comprising at least one value representing a level of expression of at least one gene that is co-regulated or functionally connected with a gene that is up-or down-regulated during a particular stage of bone or cartilage formation.
- 10. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the values represent ratios of, or differences between, a level of expression of a gene in one sample and the level of expression of the gene in another sample.
- 11. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein less than about 50% of the values represent expression levels of genes which are not listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7.
- 12. A computer system, comprising:
a database comprising values representing expression levels of a plurality of genes listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7 during bone or cartilage formation; and, a processor having instructions to,
receive at least one query value representing at least one level of expression of at least one gene listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7; and, compare the at least one query value and the at least one database value.
- 12. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the query value represents the level of expression of a gene listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7 in a diseased cell of a subject having or susceptible of having a disease selected from the group consisting of osteodystrophy, osteohypertrophy, osteoblastoma, osteopertrusis, osteogenesis imperfecta, osteoporosis, osteopenia, osteoma and osteoblastoma; periondontal disease; hyperparathyroidism; hypercalcemia of malignancy; Paget's disease; osteolytic lesions produced by bone metastasis; bone loss due to immobilization or sex hormone deficiency; bone and cartilage loss caused by an inflammatory disease, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and bone fractures.
- 13. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the query value represents the level of expression of a gene listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7 in a precursor cell for which the stage of bone or cartilage formation is unknown.
- 12. A computer program for analyzing levels of expression of a plurality of genes listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7 in a cell, the computer program being disposed on a computer readable medium and including instructions for causing a processor to:
receive query values representing levels of expression of a plurality of genes listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7 in a query cell, and, compare the query values with levels of expression of the plurality of genes listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7 in a reference cell.
- 13. A composition comprising a plurality of detection agents of genes listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7, which detection agents are capable of detecting the expression of the genes or the polypeptides encoded by the genes, and wherein less than about 50% of the detection agents are of genes which are not listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7.
- 14. The composition of claim 13, comprising detection agents of CLF-1 or MMP23.
- 15. The composition of claim 13, wherein the detection agents are isolated nucleic acids that hybridize specifically to nucleic acids corresponding to the genes.
- 16. The composition of claim 14, comprising isolated nucleic acids that hybridize specifically to at least five genes of Table 6.
- 17. The composition of claim 13, comprising detection agents of Cyr61, Col2a1, Runx2, or Ctsk.
- 18. The composition of claim 17, comprising detection agents of genes having expression profiles similar to Cyr61, Col2a1, Runx2, or Ctsk.
- 19. The composition of claim 13, comprising isolated nucleic acids that hybridize specifically to at least 10 different genes listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7.
- 20. The composition of claim 19, comprising isolated nucleic acids that hybridize specifically to at least 100 different genes listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7.
- 21. A solid surface to which are linked a plurality of detection agents of genes which are listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7, which detection agents are capable of detecting the expression of thegenes or the polypeptides encoded by the genes, and wherein less than about 50% of the detection agents are not detecting genes listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7.
- 22. The solid surface of claim 21, wherein the detection agents are isolated nucleic acids that hybridize specifically to the genes.
- 23. The solid surface of claim 22, wherein the detection agents are covalently linked to the solid surface.
- 24. A composition comprising a plurality of antagonists of a plurality of genes listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7.
- 25. The composition of claim 24, wherein the antagonists are antisense nucleic acids, siRNAs, ribozymes or dominant negative mutants.
- 26. A composition comprising a plurality of agonists of a plurality of genes listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7.
- 27. A method for determining the difference between levels of expression of a plurality of genes in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7 in a cell and reference levels of expression of the genes, comprising
providing RNA from the cell; determining levels of RNA of a plurality of genes listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7 to obtain the levels of expression of the plurality of genes in the cell; and comparing the levels of expression of the plurality of genes in the cell to a set of reference levels of expression of the genes, to thereby determine the difference between levels of expression of the plurality of genes listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7 in the cell and reference levels of expression of the genes.
- 28. The method of claim 27, wherein the set of reference levels of expression includes the levels of expression of the genes during bone or cartilage formation.
- 29. The method of claim 27, wherein the set of reference levels of expression includes the levels of expression of the genes during a particular stage of bone or cartilage formation.
- 30. The method of claim 23, wherein the set of reference levels of expression further includes the levels of expression of the genes in a precursor cell.
- 31. The method of claim 30, wherein the cell is a cell of a subject having or susceptible of having a disease selected from the group consisting of osteodystrophy, osteohypertrophy, osteoblastoma, osteopertrusis, osteogenesis imperfecta, osteoporosis, osteopenia, osteoma and osteoblastoma; periondontal disease; hyperparathyroidism; hypercalcemia of malignancy; Paget's disease; osteolytic lesions produced by bone metastasis; bone loss due to immobilization or sex hormone deficiency; bone and cartilage loss caused by an inflammatory disease, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and bone fractures.
- 32. The method of claim 27, comprising incubating a nucleic acid sample deuived from the RNA of the cell of the subject with nucleic acids corresponding to the genes, under conditions wherein two complementary nucleic acids hybridize to each other.
- 33. The method of claim 32, wherein the nucleic acids corresponding to the genes are attached to a solid surface.
- 34. The method of claim 27, comprising entering the levels of expression of the plurality of genes into a computer which comprises a memory with values representing the set of reference levels of expression.
- 35. The method of claim 34, wherein comparing the level comprises providing to the computer instructions to perform.
- 36. A method for determining whether a subject has or is likely to develop a disease related to bone or cartilage resorption, comprising obtaining a biological sample from the subject and comparing gene expression levels in the biological sample to those of a set of reference levels of expression during normal bone and cartilage formation, wherein significant differences in the levels of expression of the plurality of genes indicates that the subject has or is likely to develop a disease related to bone or cartilage resorption.
- 37. The method of claim 36, wherein the disease is selected from the group consisting of osteoporosis, osteopenia, periondontal disease; osteolytic lesions produced by bone metastasis; bone loss due to immobilization or sex hormone deficiency; bone and cartilage loss caused by an inflammatory disease, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.
- 38. A method for determining whether a subject has or is likely to develop a disease related to bone or cartilage formation, comprising obtaining a biological sample from the subject and comparing gene expression levels in the biological sample to those of a set of reference levels of expression during normal bone and cartilage formation, wherein significant similarities in the levels of expression of the plurality of genes indicates that the subject has or is likely to develop a disease related to bone or cartilage formation.
- 39. The method of claim 38, wherein the disease is selected from the group consisting of osteodystrophy, osteohypertrophy, osteoblastoma, osteopertrusis, osteogenesis imperfecta, osteoma and osteoblastoma, hyperparathyroidism; hypercalcemia of malignancy; and Paget's disease.
- 40. A method for determining the effectiveness of a treatment intended to stimulate bone or cartilage formation, comprising obtaining a biological sample from the subject and comparing gene expression levels in the biological sample to those of a set of reference levels of expression during normal bone and cartilage formation, wherein significant similarities in the levels of expression of the plurality of genes indicates that the treatment is effective.
- 41. The method of claim 40, wherein the biological sample is obtained from the healing region of a bone fracture and a similarity in levels of expression of the plurality of genes in the cell of the subject and the reference levels of expression indicates that the fracture is healing.
- 42. The method of claim 40, further comprising iteratively providing a biological sample from the subject, such as to determine an evolution of the levels of expression of the genes in the subject.
- 43. The method of claim 40, wherein the set of reference levels of expression is in the form of a database.
- 40. The method of claim 43, wherein the database is included in a computer-readable medium.
- 41. The method of claim 40, wherein the database is in communications with a microprocessor and microprocessor instructions for providing a user interface to receive expression level data of a subject and to compare the expression level data with the database.
- 42. A method for determining the effectiveness of a treatment intended to reduce bone or cartilage formation, comprising obtaining a biological sample from the subject and comparing gene expression levels in the biological sample to those of a set of reference levels of expression during normal bone and cartilage formation, wherein significant differences in the levels of expression of the plurality of genes indicates that the treatment is effective.
- 43. The method of claim 36, comprising
obtaining a sample; identifying expression levels of a plurality of genes listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7 from said sample; determining whether the levels of expression of the genes in said sample are more similar to those of a cell differentiating into bone or cartilage or to those of a precursor cell; and transmitting the results.
- 44. The method of claim 43, wherein the results are transmitted across a network.
- 45. A method for identifying a compound for treating a disease related to bone or cartilage formation, comprising
providing levels of expression of a plurality of genes listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7 in a cell of a subject incubated with a test compound; providing levels of expression of a cell differentiating into bone or cartilage; and comparing the two levels of expression, wherein significantly different levels of expression in the two cells indicates that the compound is likely to be effective for treating a disease related to bone or cartilage formation.
- 46. A method for identifying a compound for treating a disease related to bone or cartilage resorption, comprising
providing levels of expression of a plurality of genes listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7 in a cell of a subject incubated with a test compound; providing levels of expression of a cell differentiating into bone or cartilage; and comparing the two levels of expression, wherein significantly similar levels of expression in the two cells indicates that the compound is likely to be effective for treating a disease related to bone or cartilage formation.
- 47. A method for identifying a compound that modulates bone or cartilage formation, comprising
contacting a precursor cell with an agent that stimulates bone or cartilage formation and a test compound; and determining the level of expression of one or more genes of Tables 1, 2, 6 and 7 during the bone or cartilage formation; wherein a significant similarity or difference between the expression level of the genes in the cell and reference expression levels of the genes during bone or cartilage formation indicates that the test compound modulates bone or cartilage formation.
- 48. The method of claim 47, wherein the reference expression levels are essentially identical to the levels set forth in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7.
- 49. A method for identifying a compound that stimulates bone or cartilage formation, comprising
contacting a precursor cell with a test compound; and determining the level of expression of one or more genes of Tables 1, 2, 6 and 7 in the cell over time; wherein a similarity between the expression level of the genes in the cell and reference expression levels of the genes during bone or cartilage formation indicates that the test compound stimulates bone or cartilage formation.
- 50. The method of claim 49, wherein the reference expression levels are levels set forth in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7.
- 51. A method for identifying a compound that binds to a polypeptide encoded by a gene listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7, comprising
contacting a polypeptide encoded by a gene listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7 with a test compound under essentially physiological conditions; and determining whether the compound binds to the polypeptide;
- 52. A method for identifying a compound that modulates a biological activity of a polypeptide encoded by a gene listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7, comprising
contacting a polypeptide encoded by a gene listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7 with a test compound under essentially physiological conditions; and determining the biological activity of the polypeptide, wherein a higher or lower biological activity of the polypeptide in the presence of the test compound relative to the absence of the test compound indicates that the test compound modulates the biological activity of the polypeptide.
- 53. The method of claim 52, wherein the gene is CLF-1 or MMP23.
- 54. A method for identifying a compound for treating a disease related to bone or cartilage formation or resorption, comprising
identifying a compound that modulates the activity of a polypeptide encoded by a gene listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 or 7 according to the method of claim 52; and contacting a precursor cell with the compound in the presence or absence of an agent that stimulates the differentiation into bone or cartilage, wherein stimulation or inhibition of bone or cartilage formation from the cell indicates that the test compound is effective for treating a disease related to bone or cartilage formation or resorption.
- 55. A method for treating a disease related to bone or cartilage formation or resorption, comprising administering to a subject having a disease related to bone or cartilage formation or resorption a compound that modulates the biological activity of a polypeptide encoded by a gene listed in Table 1, 2, 5, 6 and/or 7 and thereby modulates bone or cartilage formation, to thereby treat the disease in the subject.
- 56. A diagnostic or drug discovery kit, comprising a computer-readable medium of claim 1 and instructions for use.
- 57. A diagnostic or drug discovery kit, comprising a composition of claim 11 and instructions for use.
- 58. A diagnostic or drug discovery kit, comprising a solid surface of claim 17 and instructions for use.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10/125,691, entitled “Methods and Compositions for Regulating Bone and Cartilage Formation”, filed Apr. 18, 2002, which application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/284,786, filed on Apr. 18, 2001. The contents of both applications are specifically incorporated by reference herein.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60284786 |
Apr 2001 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10125691 |
Apr 2002 |
US |
Child |
10329056 |
Dec 2002 |
US |