USE OF HISTONES FOR THE EARLY DIAGNOSIS AND/OR PREVENTATIVE THERAPY OF VIRALLY-INFECTED LIVING CELLS AND A BIOCHIP FOR CARRYING OUT SAID DIAGNOSIS

摘要

The invention relates to a biologically-active agent, in particular, for the early diagnosis and/or preventative therapy of virally-infected living cells, the efficacy of which is selective for the cell membranes of the virally-infected cells, which are modified in a characteristic manner after viral infection. The agent includes at least one component, selected from a group of materials, comprising histones, covalently-modified histones, polypeptides similar to histones and biologically-active sequences of the histones and peptides similar to histones. The agent may, for example, be recombinant human histone H1 or at least an H1 subtype (H1.0, H1.1, H1.2, HI.3, H1.4, H1.5, H1. t, H1.x) or the active portion thereof. The appropriate biological activity for killing a virally-infected cell at the modified cell membrane thereof through cooperation with similarly or differently active agent components may be achieved, which together form a biologically-effective complex with increased biological activity. The invention further relates to a biochip for the diagnosis of virally-infected cells, whereby a selected number of differing biological agents, each having biological activity are arranged on the biochip, which serves to determine an individual profile for the disease, whereby the agents are selected from a group of materials comprising histones, covalently-modified histones, peptides similar to histones and biologically-active sequences of the histones and peptides similar to histones.