The present invention relates to the isolation and identification of novel
baboon nucleic acid molecules and proteins and polypeptides encoded by
such nucleic acid molecules, or degenerate variants thereof, which
proteins and polypeptides comprise novel baboon thrombin-activatable
fibrinolysis inhibitors or "TAFI" enzyme molecules. Because the novel
baboon TAFI proteins and polypeptides of the invention inhibit the
breakdown of blood clots, they may be therapeutically useful for the
treatment of blood disorders wherein clotting needs to be regulated or
promoted, such as hemophilia or von Willebrand's disease or in other
situations, such as trauma, wherein blood clotting or coagulation needs
to be regulated or promoted. The sequences of the invention are also
useful in screening methods for the identification of compounds that
modulate the expression of the baboon TAFI nucleic acids and/or the
activity of the baboon TAFI proteins and polypeptides of the invention.
Such agonist or antagonist compounds may be useful in the treatment of
various blood clotting disorders and conditions requiring hemostatic
control such as hemophilia or various thrombotic diseases such as deep
venous thrombosis, coronary artery disease, stroke associated with atrial
fibrillation and recurrent thrombosis following stroke or myocardial
infarction.