FELIPE SAMANIEGO, MD, MPH
Osteopathic Medicine at Holcombe Blvd, Houston, TX

2010026, Oct 21, 2010

Jul 23, 2008

12/670224

Felipe Samaniego - Houston TX, US
Suizhao Wang - Pearland TX, US
Shu Wang - Houston TX, US

A61K 39/395, A61K 38/00, C07K 14/00, C07K 16/00, C07H 21/04, A61P 35/00

4241301, 514 193, 530350, 5303871, 536 231

In one embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of treating a cancer characterized by inhibition of Fas-mediated apoptosis, comprising administering to a patient suffering from the cancer a pharmaceutically-effective amount of a composition comprising a peptide that competitively antagonizes at least one protein-Fas binding selected from the group consisting of herpes virus 8 protein K1 binding to Fas, CD74 binding to Fas, and pi 00 binding to Fas. In a further embodiment, the peptide is selected from the group consisting of peptides having from about 15 to about 35 amino acid residues and comprising at least a portion of the immunoglobulin domain of K1, peptides having from about 15 to about 35 amino acid residues and comprising at least fifteen consecutive amino acid residues among positions 50-120 of CD74, LVTLLLAGQ ATT A YFL YQQQ, LYQQQGRLDKLTVTSQNLQL, QNLQLENLRMKLPKPPKPVS, and PKPVSKMRMATPLLMQALPM. In another embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of treating a disease characterized by unwanted apoptosis in a mammal, comprising transfecting a cell of the mammal with a nucleic acid molecule encoding CD74. The present invention also relates to the compositions referred to above and their use in manufacture of medicaments for treatment of the diseases described herein.