The present invention relates to a method for modulating the interaction between at least two proteins, wherein at least one of the two proteins is a functional
cell-surface
receptor and the other
protein is the
receptor ligand. The invention features a
binding site of said functional
cell-surface
receptor on the receptor ligand and discloses a series of
amino acid sequences, which are part of the structure of said
binding site and / or involved in the interaction between the receptor and the ligand. Moreover, the present invention features methods for molecular design and screening of a candidate compound capable of modulating the interaction between the functional
cell-surface receptor and receptor ligand through the described
binding site, and provides a
screening assay for identification of such a compound. The invention further describes an
antibody capable of binding to the above binding site and / or to an
epitope comprising an
amino acid sequence essential for executing the receptor ligand interaction through said binding site. The invention also concerns a variety of uses of the disclosed methods,
peptide sequences and antibodies. The invention in preferred embodiments concerns the binding site of the
fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) on FGFR ligands, compounds capable of modulating the receptor ligand interaction through said binding site, and
antibody capable of recognition of said binding site.