The present invention provides for an isolated human EN-RAGE peptide. The present
invention also provides for a method for determining whether a compound is capable
of inhibiting the interaction of an EN-RAGE peptide with a RAGE peptide, which
comprises: (a) admixing: (i) a RAGE peptide or an sRAGE peptide or a fragment of
either thereof, (ii) an EN-RAGE peptide or a fragment thereof, and (iii) the compound;
(b) measuring the level of interaction between the peptide of step (a) (i) and
the peptide of step (a) (ii), and (c) comparing the amount of interaction meausred
in step (b) with the amount measured between the petpide of step (a) (i) and the
peptide of step (a) (ii) in the absence of the compound, thereby determining whether
the compound is capable of inhibiting the interaction of the EN-RAGE peptide with
the RAGE peptide, wherein a reduction in the amount of interaction in the presence
of the compound indicates that the compound is capable of inhibiting the interaction.
The present invention also provides for a method for inhibiting inflammation in
a subject which comprises administering to the subject a compound capable of interfering
with the interaction between EN-RAGE peptide and receptor for advanced glycation
endproduct (RAGE) in the subject thereby inhibiting inflammation in the subject.