Anti-pro87299 antibodies

Abstract

The present invention relates to compositions containing a novel protein and methods of using those compositions for the diagnosis and treatment of immune related disease

1 . An isolated nucleic acid selected from (a) a nucleic acid consisting of the coding sequence of the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:7; and (b) a nucleic acid comprising the coding sequence of the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:9. 
     
     
         2 . An isolated polypeptide selected from (a) a polypeptide consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:8; and (b) a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:10. 
     
     
         3 . A method of stimulating T-cell proliferation in a mammal, said method comprising administering to said mammal an effective amount of an antagonist antibody which specifically binds to PRO87299, thereby stimulating T-cell proliferation. 
     
     
         4 . A method of alleviating a T cell mediated immune disease in a mammal comprising administering to said mammal a therapeutically effective amount of:
 (a) an agonist antibody that specifically binds to PRO87299; or   (b) a polypeptide comprising HVEM or a fragment of HVEM that specifically binds to PRO87299.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the T cell mediated disease is an autoimmune disease. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the T cell mediated disease is selected from rheumatoid arthritis (RA); asthma; psoriasis; multiple sclerosis (MS); inflammatory bowel disease (IBD); systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE); and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). 
     
     
         7 . A method of diagnosing inflammatory bowel disease in a mammal, said method comprising (i) detecting the level of expression of PRO87299 polypeptide in a test sample of tissue cells obtained from the mammal, and (ii) comparing the level of expression of (i) with the level of expression of PRO87299 polypeptide in a control sample of known normal tissue cells of the same cell type, wherein a higher level of expression of said PRO87299 polypeptide in the test sample is indicative of the presence of inflammatory bowel disease in the mammal from which the test tissue cells were obtained.