Use of osteopontin for the treatment and/or prevention of neurologic diseases

1. A method of treating a neurologic disease, comprising administering to a patient in need thereof a medicament comprising osteopontin, or an agonist of osteopontin activity, optionally together with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the neurologic disease is selected from the group consisting of traumatic nerve injury, stroke, demyelinating diseases of the central or the peripheral nervous system, neuropathies and neurodegenerative diseases.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the demyelinating disease is multiple sclerosis (MS).

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the neurodegenerative disease is selected from Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the neurologic disease is caused by a congenital metabolic disorder.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the neurologic disease is a peripheral neuropathy.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the neurologic disease is diabetic neuropathy.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the osteopontin is selected from the group consisting of:

(a) a polypeptide comprising SEQ ID NO:1;

(b) a polypeptide comprising amino acids 1 to 168 or 170 of SEQ ID NO: 1;

(c) a polypeptide comprising amino acids 1 to 16 and 170 to 314 of SEQ ID NO:1;

(d) a polypeptide comprising amino acids 170 to 314 of SEQ ID NO:1;

(e) a polypeptide comprising SEQ ID NO:2;

(f) a polypeptide comprising SEQ ID NO:3;

(g) a mutein of any of (a) to (f), wherein the amino acid sequence has at least 40% or 50% or 60% or 70% or 80% or 90% identity to at least one of the sequences in (a) to (f);

(h) a mutein of any of (a) to (f) which is encoded by a DNA sequence which hybridizes to the complement of the native DNA sequence encoding any of (a) to (f);

(i) a mutein of any of (a) to (f) wherein any changes in the amino acid sequence are conservative amino acid substitutions to the amino acid sequences in (a) to (f); and

(j) a salt or an isoform, fused protein, functional derivative, active fraction or circularly permutated derivative of any of (a) to (f).

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the osteopontin is PEGylated.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein osteopontin is fused to a carrier molecule, a peptide or a protein that promotes the crossing of the blood brain barrier.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the fused protein comprises an immunoglobulin (Ig) fusion.

12. The method according to claim 1 , comprising administering further an interferon, simultaneously, sequentially, or separately with respect to said administration of osteopontin or an agonist.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the interferon is interferon-β.

14. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the osteopontin is administered in an amount of 0.001 to 100 mg/kg of body weight, or 1 to 10 mg/kg of body weight, or 5 mg/kg of body weight.

15. A pharmaceutical composition comprising osteopontin, or an agonist of osteopontin activity, and an interferon, optionally together with one or more pharmaceutically acceptable excipients, in an amount sufficient for treatment and/or prevention of a neurologic disease.

16. A method for treating a neurologic disease comprising administering to a patient in need thereof an effective amount of osteopontin, or of an agonist of osteopontin activity, optionally together with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.

17. A method for treating a neurologic disease comprising administering to a patient in need thereof an effective amount of osteopontin, or of an agonist of osteopontin activity, and an interferon, optionally together with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.

18. A method for treating a neurologic disease, comprising:

delivering a medicament to an appropriate site of action of the neurologic disease in a patient in need, wherein said medicament comprises osteopontin, or an agonist of osteopontin activity, optionally together with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.

19. A method in accordance with claim 18 , wherein said delivering step comprises administering said medicament.