938 results about "Specific protein" patented technology

Highly efficient cationic liposomes have been developed as an improved delivery system for biologically-active reagents. A novel structure, the sandwich liposome, is formed and comprises one or more biologically active agents internalized between two bilomellar liposomes. This structure protects the incoming agent and accounts for the high efficiency of in vivo delivery and for the broad tissue distribution of the sandwich liposome complexes. These novel liposomes are also highly efficient carriers of nucleic acids. By using extruded DOTAP:cholesterol liposomes to form complexes with DNA encoding specific proteins, expression has been improved dramatically. Highest expression was achieved in the lung, while increased expression was detected in several organs and tissues.

The present invention provides methods of improving the osteogenic and/or chondrogenic activity of a bone matrix, e.g., a dermineralized bone matrix (DBM), by exposing the bone matrix to one or more treatments or conditions. In preferred embodiments the bone matrix is derived from human bone. The treatment or condition may alter the structure of the bone matrix and/or cleave one or more specific proteins. Cleavage may generate peptides or protein fragments that have osteoinductive, osteogenic, or chondrogenic activity. Preferred treatments include collagenase and various other proteases. The invention further provides improved bone and cartilage matrix compositions that have been prepared according to the inventive methods and methods of treatment using the compositions. The invention further provides methods of preparing, testing, and using the improved bone matrix compositions. Ona assay comprises exposing relatively undifferentiated mesenchymal cells to a bone matrix composition and measuring expression of a marker characteristic of osteoblast or chondrocyte lineage(s). Increased expression of the marker relative to the level of the marker in cells that have been exposed to a control matrix (e.g., an inactivated or untreated matrix) indicates that the treatment or condition increased the osteogenic and/or chondrogenic activity of the bone matrix. Suitable cells include C2C12 cells. A suitable marker is alkaline phosphatase. The inventive methods increase the osteogenic and/or chondrogenic activity of human DBM when tested using this assay system.

The present invention provides methods for determining the level of protein activity in a cell by: (i) measuring abundances of cellular constituents in a cell in which the activity of a specific protein is to be determined so that a diagnostic profile is thus obtained; (ii) measuring abundances of cellular constituents that occur in a cell in response to perturbations in the activity of said protein to obtain response profiles and interpolating said response profiles to generate response curves; and (iii) determining a protein activity level at which the response profile extracted from the response curves best fits the measured diagnostic profile, according to some objective measure. In alternative embodiments, the present invention also provides methods for identifying individuals having genetic mutations or polymorphisms that disrupt protein activity, and methods for identifying drug activity in vivo by determining the activity levels of proteins which interact with said drugs.

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for the detection of an infectious disease or disorder in a fluid, such as a mammalian blood sample, the detection of a specific protein in a urine sample, or the detection of a particle in a plasma. The identification of the particles of interest is enable by taking a transmission spectrum of a test sample in at least a portion of the ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared portion of the spectrum and comparing the spectrum with a standard sample spectrum. From the comparison it is then determined whether the fluid from the test sample contains an particle of interest, and an identity of the particle of interest is determined. Spectroscopic and multiwavelength turbidimetry techniques provide a rapid, inexpensive, and convenient means for diagnosis. The comparison and determination steps may be performed visually or by spectral deconvolution.

The present invention relates to an in vitro diagnostic method for malaria in an individual comprising placing a tissue or a biological fluid taken from an individual in contact with a molecule or polypeptide composition, wherein said molecule or polypeptide composition comprises one or more peptide sequences bearing all or part of one or more T epitopes of the proteins resulting from the infectious activity of P. falciparum, under conditions allowing an in vitro immunological reaction to occur between said composition and the antibodies that may be present in the tissue or biological fluid, and in vitro detection of the antigen-antibody complexes formed. The invention further relates to a polypeptide comprising at least one T epitope from a liver-stage specific protein produced by P. falciparum and a vaccine composition directed against malaria comprising a molecule having one or more peptide sequences bearing all or part of one or more T epitopes resulting from the infectious activity of P. falciparum in the hepatic cells.

Methods and compositions for the rapid and reversible destabilizing of specific proteins using cell-permeable, synthetic molecules are described. Stability-affecting proteins, e.g., derived from FKBP and DHFR proteins are fused to a protein of interest and the presence or absence of the ligand is used to modulate the stability of the fusion protein.

Embodiments of the invention provide methods, assays, and kits for detecting HPV infection, including infection by various HPV genotypes, early and/or late HPV-associated or HPV-specific proteins or antibodies. Detection of HPV DNAs, genomes, and/or oncoproteins by protein chips immunological assays can be used in early clinical screening for HPV infection and general diagnosis for cervical cancer and can be advantageous performed in a multiplexed test. Comparative detection of altered levels of HPV proteins and host proteins can performed in one or more assays. The polypeptides, recombinant proteins, antibodies, nucleic acids, and various detection methods thereof are particularly useful for diagnosing carcinomas of the uterine cervix and those at risk of developing cervical cancer.

The present invention relates to methods for detecting, prognosing and staging cancers, in particular cancers of the gastrointestinal tract. The methods of the invention comprise detecting specific protein markers in a tissue of interest, wherein the detected levels thereof may be indicative of pre-cancerous or cancerous tissue, or the stage or prognosis of a cancer. Further provided are methods of treating cancer, and cancer detection kits.

Arterial and venous endothelial cells are molecularly distinct from the earliest stages of angiogenesis. This distinction is revealed by expression on arterial cells of a transmembrane ligand, called EphrinB2 whose receptor EphB4 is expressed on venous cells. Targeted disruption of the EphrinB2 gene prevents the remodeling of veins from a capillary plexus into properly branched structures. Moreover, it also disrupts the remodeling of arteries, suggesting that reciprocal interactions between pre-specified arterial and venous endothelial cells are necessary for angiogenesis. This distinction can be used to advantage in methods to alter angiogenesis, methods to assess the effect of drugs on artery cells and vein cells, and methods to identify and isolate artery cells and vein cells, for example.

Methods and compositions for rendering proteins directly responsive to an external signal utilizing modulators that themselves respond to the external signal and are associated with the proteins. In response to the external signal, the modulator alters physical properties of the specific protein molecule(s) with which it is associated, thereby altering the structural and functional properties thereof. The modulator may, for example, transfer applied energy to a protein, or to a portion of the protein, thereby changing the protein structure and function.

Methods and apparatuses for analyzing proteins and other biological materials and xenobiotics within a sample. A specimen is generated, which may include an energy absorbent matrix. The specimen is struck with laser beams such that the specimen releases proteins. The atomic mass of the released proteins over a range of atomic masses is measured. An atomic mass window of interest within the range of atomic masses is analyzed to determine the spatial arrangement of specific proteins within the sample, and those specific proteins are identified as a function of the spatial arrangement. By analyzing the proteins, one may monitor and classify disease within a sample.

An improved method for protein labeling comprising the steps of providing a synthetic small molecule tag, providing a target protein to be tagged, providing at least two enzymes for catalyzing a conjugation reaction between the tag and the target protein, incubating the tag, the protein and the enzyme, and allowing the tag to conjugate to the target protein. The tag may embody at least one structural feature of an ubiquitin C-terminus, and the structural feature may comprise a recognition sequence that is recognizable by an ubiquitin activating enzyme.

The invention relates to the field of bone tissue engineering, in particular to bone tissue repair ink, a bone tissue repair composition and a bone tissue repair bracket, and preparation methods thereof as well as a kit. The bone tissue repair ink and a bioactive carrier wrapping cells are used as raw materials, and the bone tissue repair bracket is printed according to a preset three-dimensionalstructure by adopting a biological printer. Meanwhile, living cell printing is realized by adopting the bone tissue repair ink and the bioactive carrier as the raw materials. The cells are uniformly distributed on a bracket model formed by the bone tissue repair ink and difficultly slide down to the bottom of the bracket, so that the problem that the expression of some characteristic proteins of the cells is easily lost in the prior art is effectively solved. The growth of the cells on the bracket is facilitated. A human body bone cell growth environment is better simulated, the cell proliferation, the directional differentiation and the specific protein expression are promoted, the extension and the migration of the cells in the bone tissue bracket and the cell junction establishment arefacilitated, and an organic construction body is formed.

The present invention describes a serum-free medium that promotes the growth and differentiation of erythroid cells, cells that are highly transducible by a non-viral method and genes which increase the growth of erythroid cells and decrease their dependency on Epo. This invention can be used in the expansion of hematopoietic stem cells to produce cultures of erythroid cells as a source of erythroid-specific proteins such as hemoglobin. Hematopoietic stem cells are cultured ex vivo in a serum-free culture medium with the addition of IL-3, SCF and EPO. Cells transfected with the gene described in the present invention can be cultured in the serum-free culture medium with decreased dependency on Epo and other cytokines, thereby reducing the cost of the production of hemoglobin.

The invention relates to a microencapsulation method for preparing a hydrotropic substance serving as a core material by using a complex coacervation method. The method is simple in process and low in cost, and the product has high encapsulation rate. The method comprises the following steps of: (1) weighing specific protein and polysaccharide in a certain ratio, stirring and dissolving in hot water to form a wall material solution; (2) weighing a certain mass of hydrotropic core material substance, adding an oil phase substance and an emulsifier in a certain mass ratio, and performing high-speed dispersion to form water/oil (W/O) emulsion; (3) directly pouring the emulsion into the wall material solution, stirring at the constant temperature of 45 DEG C, regulating pH by using 10 percent acid, and reacting for 15 minutes; (4) cooling to the temperature of below 15 DEG C, regulating the pH to 6.0, and adding glutamine transaminase for solidifying; and (5) filtering to obtain a wet capsule product. A dry microcapsule product can be obtained by freeze drying or spray drying.

A protein obtainable from a non pathogenic microorganism, said protein having mucosa binding promoting activity and a molecular weight of 20-40 kD is disclosed. Application of such a protein or a peptide derived therefrom in a method of screening non pathogenic microorganisms for a microorganism capable of specifically binding mucosa, said method comprising detection in a manner known per se of the presence of a particular protein on or in a microorganism or in a culture of microorganisms, said particular protein being the already defined protein. Kits suitable for such a screening method are also disclosed. Use of a component selected from the group of components comprising a protein or peptide as defined an expression vector comprising nucleic acid encoding such protein or peptide a recombinant microorganism or a part of said microorganism expressing such protein or peptide, said part expressing mucosa binding promoting activity a non pathogenic microorganism capable of expressing such protein or peptide or a part of said microorganism, said part expressing mucosa binding promoting activity as pharmaceutically active component in a pharmaceutical composition for prophylaxis and/or treatment of disease or illness associated with a mucosa colonising pathogenic microorganism. Use of such components as food additive and compositions comprising such components are described.