A chimeric antigen receptor (CAR), containing a BCMA (B cell maturation antigen) binding domain. The BCMA binding domain includes an antibody or an antigen-binding fragment of an antibody that specifically binds to BCMA. The antibody contains a heavy-chain complementarity determining region 3 (HCDR3), a heavy-chain complementarity determining region 2 (HCDR2), and a heavy-chain complementarity determining region 1 (HCDR1). The HCDR3 contains an amino acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 25, the HCDR2 contains an amino acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 41, and the HCDR1 contains an amino acid sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 21.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia in aging adults with the number of people living with AD projected to increase, making the search for treatments and tools to diagnose and measure disease progression increasingly urgent. In particular, ideal biomarkers for diagnosis of AD should not only have high specificity for disease versus non-disease and high sensitivity for distinguishing between disease types but also should be able to detect changes at a very early stage of the disease. Using microglia activation as an early event of AD's onset, the present inventors have identified a panel of biomarkers in CSF which has the potential to diagnose, stage and determine the likelihood of developing AD.

To provide a peptide which can be produced and processed more readily compared with prothymosin , which is conventionally known, or a peptide thereof and has an activity at a level equivalent to or higher than that of prothymosin or a peptide thereof. The present invention provides an ameliorating agent for blood-organ barrier dysfunction, a therapeutic agent for diseases associated with blood-organ barrier dysfunction or ischemic diseases or a nerve cell death inhibitor, each comprising, as an active ingredient, a peptide comprising the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1 or a peptide having substantially the same function as that of the aforementioned peptide.

Provided herein are compositions, systems, and methods for delivering an effector protein into a cell. The present disclosure, in some aspects, provide novel proteins delivering an effector protein into a cell. The novel proteins are supernegatively charged proteins derived from highly anionic proteins identified from the proteome (e.g., human proteome). The novel protein tags can be associated (e.g., covalently or nocovalently) with the protein to be delivered to facilitate delivery of the effector protein into a cell.

Described herein are biological devices and extracts useful for stimulating hair follicles and/or for increasing hair growth. The biological devices include microbial cells transformed with a DNA construct containing genes for producing transforming growth factor , keratin, adiponectin, and thymosin 4. In some instances, the extracts also include a synthetic pentapeptide, GPIGS. Methods for using the devices and/or extracts to treat the scalp are also provided herein.