Glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) is a 33 amino acid peptide expressed in a tissue-specific manner from the pleiotropic glucagon gene. GLP-2 shows remarkable homology in terms of amino acid sequence to glucagon and Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). Further, different mammalian forms of GLP-2 are highly conserved. For example, the human GLP-2 (hGLP-2) and degu (a south American rodent) GLP-2 differ from rat GLP-2 (rGLP-2) by one and three amino acids respectively. When given exogenously, GLP-2 can produce a marked increase in the proliferation of small intestinal epithelium of the test mice, apparently with no undesirable side effects (Drucker et al., 1996, PNAS:USA, 93:7911-7916). Subsequently it was shown that peptide analogs of native GLP-2 with certain modifications to the peptide sequence possess enhanced intestinotrophic activity at the small intestine (see co-pending application U.S. Ser. No. 08/669,791, incorporated herein by reference). Moreover, GLP-2 has also been shown to increase D-Glucose maximal transport rate across the intestinal basolateral membrane [Cheeseman and Tseng, 1996, American Journal of Physiology 271:G477-G482].
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds