Methods For Treating Tweak-Related Conditions

Abstract

The present invention provides methods and agents for the treatment of TWEAK-related conditions, including cardiac, liver, kidney, lung, adipose, skeletal, muscle, neuronal, bone and cartilage conditions. The invention also provides methods for identifying TWEAK agonists or antagonists for the treatment of TWEAK-related conditions. Additionally, the invention provides transgenic animals that express an exogenous DNA encoding a TWEAK polypeptide, or fragments, analogs, or muteins thereof, and methods for using such animals to identify TWEAK agonists or antagonists. The invention further provides methods for diagnosing a disease based on TWEAK expression. The invention also provides methods for affecting cellular differentiation of progenitor cells using TWEAK polypeptides, agonists, or antagonists.

1 .- 12 . (canceled) 
     
     
         13 . A method for treating muscle atrophy in a human subject in need thereof, the method comprising administering to the human subject a therapeutically effective amount of a TWEAK antagonist, wherein the TWEAK antagonist is an antibody, or an antigen-binding fragment thereof, that binds human TWEAK. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the muscle atrophy is muscular dystrophy. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the muscle atrophy is a mitochondrial myopathy, a lipid myopathy, a central tubular myopathy, rhabdomyolysis, or an alcoholic myopathy. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the muscle atrophy is the result of a neuronal disease. 
     
     
         17 . The method of claim  41 , wherein the neuronal disease is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the muscle atrophy is cachexia. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the muscle atrophy is the result of polymyositis, an inflammatory myopathy, or a glucocorticoid induced atrophy. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the human subject has cancer. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the anti-human TWEAK antibody or the antigen-binding fragment thereof is human, humanized, or chimeric. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the TWEAK antagonist is used in combination with progenitor cell therapy. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the TWEAK antagonist is used in combination with tissue transplantation therapy.