An object of the invention is to provide a method for detecting cancer in a simple and highly accurate manner, and a reagent that can be used in the method. A method for detecting cancer (excluding renal cell cancer), which comprises measuring the level of Azurocidin (AZU1) in a sample, in which it is determined that cancer is detected when a measured value exceeds a preset reference value. The cancer is preferably selected from the group consisting of stomach cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and lung cancer. A reagent containing an antibody that specifically recognizes AZU1 is used in detecting cancer (excluding renal cell cancer).

The invention pertains to a complex of an OMV, a vertebrate antimicrobial peptide (AMP) and an antigen, wherein the AMP is non-covalently complexed with the OMV and wherein the antigen is conjugated to the AMP. Preferably, the antigen is covalently linked to the AMP. The invention further concerns the induction of an immune response using the complex of the invention as well as a method for producing the complex of the invention.

Methods for improving transgene in chloroplasts are disclosed along with improved transgenes so produced and methods of use thereof for the treatment of disease. Specifically, the methods comprising analyzing the native sequence of a nucleic acid encoding a protein of interest and replacing codons in said sequence with those preferentially used in psbA genes in chloroplasts in higher plants.

Provided herein, in some embodiments, are artificial secretion peptides capable of directing secretion from Lactobacillus for use, for example, in producing heterologous proteins, including therapeutic proteins.

Provided herein are agents, compositions, and methods useful for animal health, e.g., for altering the level, activity, or metabolism of one or more microorganisms resident in a host insect (e.g., arthropod, e.g., insect, e.g., pathogen vector), the alteration resulting in a decrease in the fitness of the host. The invention features a composition that includes an agent (e.g., phage, peptide, small molecule, antibiotic, or combinations thereof) that can alter the host's microbiota in a manner that is detrimental to the host. By disrupting microbial levels, microbial activity, microbial metabolism, or microbial diversity, the agents described herein may be used to decrease the fitness of a variety of insects that carry vector-borne pathogens that cause disease in animals.

Disclosed is a method of producing an antimicrobial peptide wherein an antimicrobial peptide gene is fused with a green fluorescent protein gene expressed insolubly in E. coli, followed by introduction into E. coli, expression, and removal of the green fluorescent protein to yield the antimicrobial peptide. This method is capable of producing the antimicrobial peptide with high yield in a simple and economical manner and is thus effective at providing native antibiotics that can replace conventional antibiotics in pharmaceutical and feed industries, requiring the development of antibiotics having a new mechanism of action that can eradicate resistant strains due to the proliferation of multiple-drug-resistant microorganisms. Furthermore, the use of an amino acid cleavage process through acid treatment, instead of using conventional cyanogen bromide, is cost-effective for the purification of a target protein from an insoluble protein, can decrease the risk of processing, and enables rapid processing.

The present disclosure is directed to lysin-AMP polypeptide constructs, isolated lysin polypeptides, and pharmaceutical compositions comprising the isolated polypeptides and/or lysin-AMP polypeptide constructs. Methods of using the lysin-AMP polypeptide constructs, isolated lysin polypeptides and pharmaceutical compositions are also herein provided, including methods of treating a bacterial infection of an organ or tissue in which pulmonary surfactant is present or Gram-negative bacterial infections that are associated with a biofilm. In addition, isolated polynucleotides encoding the lysin-AMP polypeptide constructs and isolated lysin polypeptides are disclosed herein.

Compositions are provided for formulations of θ-defensin and/or a θ-defensin analog that are highly suitable for parenteral administration. Such formulations provide the θ-defensin and/or a θ-defensin analog in a slightly acidic buffer that includes propylene glycol. Surprisingly, Inventors have found that such formulation increase bioavailability of a θ-defensin and/or a θ-defensin analog so provided by at least a factor of 10 relative to conventional isotonic saline solutions, and that such formulations dramatically improved bioavailability in human subjects relative to animal models. Inventors have also found that such formulations advantageously exhibit low viscosity at high peptide concentrations, reducing injection volume permitting sterilization by simple filtration.

The present invention relates to an antimicrobial peptide having an improved antibacterial effect through glutamic acid substitution and, more specifically, to a use of the antimicrobial peptide as an active ingredient in an antibacterial pharmaceutical composition, a food additive, a feed additive, an antiseptic composition, and an antibacterial quasi-drug composition. Not only does the antimicrobial peptide of the present invention exhibit significant antibacterial activity against gram-negative bacteria, but it also exhibits a significant synergistic effect when combinedly treated with antibiotics which have strong antibacterial activity only against gram-positive bacteria and has no or low antibacterial activity against gram-negative bacteria, thereby exhibiting excellent antibacterial effects on gram-positive bacteria, E. coli and Acinetobacter bacteria among gram-negative bacteria, and antibiotic-resistant strains thereof.

The present invention relates to the field of antimicrobial agents. In particular, the present invention relates to polypeptides comprising the sequence of a peptidoglycan hydrolase and a peptide sequence heterologous to the peptidoglycan hydrolase wherein said heterologous peptide sequence comprises a specific sequence motif which is 16, 17, 18, 19 or 20 amino acids in length. The present invention relates also to corresponding nucleic acids, vectors, bacteriophages, host cells, compositions and kits. The present inventions also relates to the use of said polypeptides, nucleic acids, vectors, bacteriophages, host cells, compositions and kits in methods for treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy or in diagnostic methods practiced on the human or animal body. The polypeptides, nucleic acids, vectors, bacteriophages, host cells, compositions and kits according to the invention may also be used as an antimicrobial in, e.g., food or feed, in cosmetics, or as disinfecting agent.