Interleukin-1 beta converting enzyme like apoptotic protease-6

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Toward these ends, and others, it is an object of the present invention to provide polypeptides, inter alia, that have been identified as novel ICE LAP-6 by homology between the amino acid sequence set out in FIG.
1 or the polypeptide encoded by the deposited clone and known amino acid sequences of other proteins such as those sequences set out in FIG.
2.
, It is a further object of the invention, moreover, to provide polynucleotides that encode ICE LAP-6, particularly polynucleotides that encode the polypeptide herein designated ICE LAP-6 and the polynucleotide of the deposited clone.
In a particular preferred embodiment of this aspect of the invention the polynucleotide comprises the region encoding human ICE LAP-6 set forth in FIGS.
2A, 2B and 2C.
In accordance with this aspect of the present invention there is provided an isolated nucleic acid molecule encoding a mature polypeptide expressed by the human cDNA in FIGS.
2A, 2B and 2C or derived using the primers set forth in Example 1, or a polynucleotide encoding the polypeptide in FIG.
1 or derived from the polypeptide encoded by the deposited clone.
In accordance with this aspect of the invention there are provided isolated nucleic acid molecules encoding human ICE LAP-6, including mRNAs, cDNAs, genomic DNAs and, in further embodiments of this aspect of the invention, biologically, diagnostically, clinically or therapeutically useful variants, analogs or derivatives thereof, or fragments thereof, including fragments of the variants, analogs and derivatives.
Among the particularly preferred embodiments of this aspect of the invention are naturally occurring allelic variants of human ICE LAP-6.
It also is an object of the invention to provide ICE LAP-6 polypeptides, particularly human ICE LAP-6 polypeptides, that may be employed for therapeutic purposes, for example, to treat viral infection, as an anti-tumor agent and to control embryonic development and tissue homeostasis.
In accordance with this aspect of the invention there are provided novel polypeptides of human origin referred to herein as ICE LAP-6 as well as biologically, diagnostically or therapeutically useful fragments, variants and derivatives thereof, variants and derivatives of the fragments, and analogs of the foregoing