| abstract |
A novel neurotrophin antagonist is described. The antagonist is a bicyclic peptide preferably derived from the internal reverse turn region of a member of the structurally similar neurotrophin family including NGF, BDNF, NT-3, NT-4, NT-5 and NT-6. Generally, the antagonist comprises amino acids from positions (58-68) and (108-110) of a neurotrophin, in which the amino acid from position 58 is covalently bound to the amino acid from position 108 and the amino acid from position 68 is covalently bound to the amino acid at position 110 to form a bicyclic structure. The neurotrophin-derived antagonists are useful to inhibit undesirable neurotrophin-mediated activity such as the neurite outgrowth that occurs in some neurodegenerative disease states. |