Multi-Foci Sonications For Hyperthermia Treatments Using Magnetic Resource-Guided High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (MR-HIFU)

Hyperthermia has been used extensively and successfully in the treatment of solid tumors. For accessible solid tumors with impressive efficacy not amenable to surgery, ablative hyperthermia (>55°C for 20 s to 15 min) has been used as a definitive treatment. By contrast, for both radiotherapy and chemotherapy, mild hyperthermia (40-45°C for up to 1 hour) has been shown useful as an adjuvant.

Ex-vivo Production of Regulatory B-Cells for Use in Auto-immune Diseases

Regulatory B-cells (Breg) play an important role in reducing autoimmunity and reduced levels of these cells are implicated in etiology of several auto-inflammatory diseases. Despite their impact in many diseases, their physiological inducers are unknown.  Given that Bregs are a very rare B-cell, identifying factors that promote their development would allow in vivo modulation of Breg levels and ex-vivo production of large amounts of antigen-specific Bregs to use in immunotherapy for auto-inflammatory diseases.
 

Methods of Producing Effective T-cell Populations Using Akt Inhibitors

Adoptive cell therapy (ACT) uses cancer reactive T-cells to effectively treat patients. However, several obstacles inhibit the successful use of ACT for cancer treatment.  Current approaches for the expansion of T-cells may produce T-cells with a terminally differentiated phenotype that is associated with diminished anti-tumor activity and poor capacity for long-term persistence. Thus, there is a need for improved methods of obtaining an isolated population of effective T-cells for ACT. 

Amelioration of Inflammatory Arthritis Targeting the Pre-ligand Assembly Domain (PLAD) of Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptors

The invention relates to compositions of matter and methods for treating arthritis by modulating Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha (TNF-alpha) signaling. TNF-alpha plays a key role in the pathogenesis of numerous diseases including rheumatoid and septic arthritis, and other autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. TNF-alpha mediates its effects through receptors that contain a Pre-ligand Assembly Domain (PLAD). The inventors have discovered compounds that interfere with PLAD can block the effects of TNF-alpha in vitro.

Muramyl Dipeptide as a Therapeutic Agent for Inflammation

The nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain 2 (NOD2) protein plays a key role in innate immunity as a sensor of muramyl dipeptide (MDP), a breakdown product of bacterial peptidoglycan. Bacterial peptidoglycan promotes the innate immune response through the activation of Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2), which ultimately provokes inflammation. Activation of NOD2 by MDP negatively regulates the activity of TLR2, and thus reduces inflammation.

Radiotracers for Imaging P-glycoprotein Transporter Function

This invention offers technology to help treat certain brain diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's, and may lead to more effective and personalized treatments. P-glycoprotein transporter (P-gp) acts as a pump at the blood-brain barrier to exclude a wide range of xenobiotics (e.g., toxins, drugs, etc.) from the brain and is also expressed in a tumor in response to exposure to established/prospective chemotherapeutics (a phenomenon known as multidrug resistance; MDR).

Adult Human Dental Pulp Stem Cells in vitro and in vivo

Many individuals with ongoing and severe dental problems are faced with the prospect of permanent tooth loss. Examples include dentinal degradation due to caries or periodontal disease; (accidental) injury to the mouth; and surgical removal of teeth due to tumors associated with the jaw. Clearly, a technology that offers a possible alternative to artificial dentures by designing and transplanting a set of living teeth fashioned from the patient's own pulp cells would greatly improve the individual's quality of life.

A Novel Treatment for Malarial Infections

The inventions described herein are antimalarial small molecule inhibitors of the plasmodial surface anion channel (PSAC), an essential nutrient acquisition ion channel expressed on human erythrocytes infected with malaria parasites. These inhibitors were discovered by high-throughput screening of chemical libraries and analysis of their ability to kill malaria parasites in culture. Two separate classes of inhibitors were found to work synergistically in combination against PSAC and killed malaria cultures at markedly lower concentrations than separately.

Recombinant Vaccines Based on Poxvirus Vectors

The technology offered for licensing is foundational in the area of recombinant DNA vaccines. In the last several years, facilitated through a licensing program of the NIH, the technology has been broadly applied in the development and commercialization of several novel human and veterinary vaccines in the areas of infectious disease as well as cancer therapeutics. The NIH wishes to expand its licensing program of the subject technology in a variety of applications that will benefit public health.
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