The present invention relates, in general, to presenilin 2 proteolytic fragments.
In particular, the present invention relates to a purified 20 kDa presenilin 2
C-terminal fragment (PS2-CTF); purified nucleic acid molecules coding for the 20
kDa PS2-CTF protein; cells containing the nucleic acid molecules; non-human organisms
containing the nucleic acid molecule; antibodies having specific binding affinity
to the 20 kDa PS2-CTF; hybridomas containing the antibodies; methods of detecting
20 kDa PS2-CTF in a sample; diagnostic kits; methods for screening compounds that
inhibit proteolytic processing of presenilin 2 in a cell, isolated compounds that
inhibit proteolytic processing of presenilin 2 in a cell, and a method of inhibiting
apoptotic cell death by preventing proteolytic cleavage of presenilin 2 at a cleavage
site which generates a 20 kDa C-terminal fragment.
