Proviral Integration for the Moloney murine leukemia virus (PIM) kinases are overexpressed in many solid cancers – including prostate, breast, colon, endometrial, gastric and pancreatic. High of PIM1 expression is predictive of poor survival in multiple cancer types. While several selective pan-PIM inhibitors were developed and tested in clinical trials, all ultimately increased PIM1-3 protein levels and developed intrinsic resistance.
The high mortality rate from ovarian cancers can be attributed to late-stage diagnosis and lack of effective treatment. Despite enormous effort to develop better targeted therapies, platinum-based chemotherapy still remains the standard of care for ovarian cancer patients, and resistance occurs at a high rate. One of the rate limiting factors for translation of new drug discoveries into clinical treatments has been the lack of suitable preclinical cancer models with high predictive value.
The National Cancer Institute's Molecular Targets Development Program is seeking parties interested in collaborative research to further develop, evaluate, or commercialize cancer inhibitors isolated from the African plant Phyllanthus englerii. The technology is also available for exclusive or non-exclusive licensing.
Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a deadly hemorrhagic fever having a high mortality rate. The disease results from infection of an individual by Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV), which is a tick-borne bunyavirus endemic in Southern and Eastern Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Geographically, case distribution is consistent with the range of Hyalomma genus ticks, the main reservoir of CCHFV, and is likely to expand due to climate change. Humans may be infected from tick bites, through contact with infected animals or animal tissue.
Programed Death-Ligand 1 (PD-L1, also known as B7-H1 or CD274) is a cell surface protein that binds to Programmed Cell Death Protein 1 (PD-1, also known as CD279). An imbalance in PD-1/PD-L1 activity contributes to cancer immune escape. PD-1 is expressed on the surface of antigen-stimulated T cells. The interaction between PD-L1 and PD-1 negatively regulates T cell-mediated immune responses. It has been suggested that disrupting the PD-L1/PD-1 signaling pathway can be used to treat cancers. The aberrant expression of PD-L1 on multiple tumor types supports this suggestion.
This technology includes an alpha-galactosidase-A knockout mouse model that can be used to study Fabry disease, an X-linked lysosomal storage disorder. Alpha-galactosidase-A is a crucial enzyme responsible for the breakdown of glycolipids, particularly globotriaosylceramide (Gb3), within lysosomes. In Fabry disease, a rare and inherited lysosomal storage disorder, mutations in the GLA gene lead to deficient or non-functional alpha-galactosidase-A enzyme activity.
Researchers at the Vaccine Research Center (“VRC”) of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (“NAID”) continue to pursue a safe and effective HIV-1 vaccine to combat the HIV-1/AIDS pandemic.
This technology includes a novel method to train deep learning convolution neural network model to improve the signal-noise-ratio for the magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. The novelty lies on the fact that actual MR imaging physics information is used in the deep learning training. The resulting model achieves significant signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) improved for different acceleration factors in MR imaging. The resulting model can be used for many body anatomies (e.g., brain, heart, liver, spine, etc.) to significantly improve the SNR.
The Zbtb7b gene encodes the zinc finger transcription factor ThPOK (also known as cKrox) that promotes CD4 lineage differentiation in immature T cells. CD4+ T cells, also known as “helper” T cells, are critical for long-term immunity against pathogens as well as for promoting CD8+ “effector” T cell and effective B cell responses. ThPOK is needed for the development and functional fitness of CD4+ T cells as well as multiple aspects of the immune response to infection. As such, ThPOK offers a potential target for immune regulation.
Adoptive cell therapy (ACT) is a breakthrough form of cancer immunotherapy that utilizes tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) or genetically engineered T cells to attack tumor cells through recognition of tumor-specific antigens. A major hurdle in the development of ACT is the identification and isolation of T cells that recognize antigens that are expressed by tumor cells but not by healthy tissues. Current methods to identify such T cells involve extracting autologous antigen presenting cells (APCs) from patients in an expensive, laborious, and time-consuming process.