Inventors:
David J. Wyler - Newton MA
Sadhana Prakash - Cambridge MA
Xiaoping Zhang - Malden MA
Assignee:
New England Medical Center Hospitals, Inc. - Boston MA
International Classification:
C07K 1400, C07K 1452
Abstract:
A method for identifying individuals with a propensity for pathological fibrosis. The method involves providing a sample from an individual with a chronic inflammatory disease, contacting the sample with an antibody specific for fibroblast stimulating factor-1 (FsF-1) under conditions which permit immunocomplex formation, and detecting an increase in the relative level of the immunocomplex as an indication of a propensity for pathological fibrosis. FsF-1 polypeptides and antibodies specific for FsF-1, and DNA sequences encoding FsF-1 polypeptides are also disclosed.