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The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is a cell monolayer with specialized functions crucial to maintaining the metabolic environment and chemistry of the sub-retinal and choroidal layers in the eye. Damage or disease causing RPE cell loss leads to progressive photoreceptor damage and impaired vision. Loss of RPE is observed in many of the most prevalent cases of vision loss, including age related macular degeneration (AMD) and Best disease.

The HIV-positive population continues to rise despite a worldwide decline in the rates of infection caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).  The HIV virus continues to spread due to a lack of effective vaccines and pre-exposure prophylaxis methods, even though the availability and effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy has helped reduce acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related deaths. 

The technology is directed to compositions and methods of designing nucleic acid nanoparticles (NANPs) composed entirely of DNA, RNA, or DNA and RNA to achieve desirable immunostimulation and decrease undesirable effects on the immune system by changing the composition of the NANP. Benefits of the invention include the desirable activation of the immune system by these particles to increase the efficacy of vaccines and immunotherapies.

Chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) combine an antibody-based binding domain (and single chain fragment variable region, scFv) with T cell receptor signaling domains (CD3 zeta with a costimulatory domain, typically CD28 or 41BB). When T cells express CARs, they are activated in a major histocompatibility complex- (MHC) independent manner to kill tumor cells expressing the target to which the scFv binds.  CAR T cells targeting the B cell antigen CD19 have resulted in remissions in 60-80% of patients with pre-B cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (BCP-ALL).

Researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have developed a new method of improving the efficacy of vaccines in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) by activating Ras. This method can be used to develop more efficacious vaccine compositions by activating Ras before, during, or after vaccination. Additionally, the researchers discovered that modulation of the Ras pathways could be a predictive biomarker of protection against HIV.

Englerin A, a natural product, has shown growth-inhibiting activity against renal cancer cell lines. The compound is an agonist of protein kinase C (PCK) theta, which results in cell cytotoxicity, insulin inhibition, and selective activation of viral replication in T cells.  Englerin A derivatives are promising treatment strategies for any diseases associated with PKC theta and/or ion channel proteins.

Soluble forms of human CD4 (sCD4) inhibit HIV-1 entry into immune cells.  Different forms of sCD4 and their fusion proteins have been extensively studied as promising HIV-1 inhibitors – including in animal models and clinical trials.  However, they have not been successful in human studies due to their transient efficacy.  sCD4 is also known to interact with class II major histocompatibility complex (MHCII) and, at low concentrations, could enhance HIV-1 infectivity. 

The development of RNA-based nanostructures and their use in a variety of applications, including RNA interference (RNAi) and drug delivery, represents an emerging field of science, technology, and biomedicine.  RNA is a dynamic material because of its natural functionalities, its ability to fold into complex small structures, and its capacity to self-assemble. 

Despite therapeutic advances, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is still a pervasive disease, with approximately 37 million people infected worldwide. Peptides have become popular therapeutic agents, as these proteins offer structural diversity for many different diseases. Several peptides were commercially developed as HIV therapeutics, demonstrating the high potential for peptides in treating HIV. 

Proinflammatory T-helper 17 cells (Th17) play important roles in host immune defense against infection, but uncontrolled activation of these cells, known as the Th17 response, may cause autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases (uveitis, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and Crohn’s disease) through the effects of Th17 lineage cytokines (such as, IL-17F, IL-22 and GM-CSF). Importantly, IL-17A (a proinflammatory cytokine) represses other Th17 lineage cytokines by upregulating the regulatory cytokine IL-24.