Method for treating muscle atrophy and composition for use in the same. According to one embodiment, the method may be used to treat muscle-wasting conditions like sarcopenia and cancer cachexia and may involve administering to a person suffering from such a condition an effective amount of FST288 and/or one or more variants thereof. In another embodiment, excess fat accumulation and/or obesity may be treated by administering to a person an effective amount of FST288 and/or one or more variants thereof. In yet another embodiment, metabolic activity and/or sprinting activity may be increased by administering to a person an effective amount of FST288 and/or one or more variants thereof. In still yet another embodiment, all types of cancer and/or Alzheimer's disease may be treated by administering to a person suffering from cancer and/or Alzheimer's disease an effective amount of FST288 and/or one or more variants thereof.

The present disclosure provides novel polypeptide conjugates. The polypeptide conjugates disclosed herein comprise a stapled peptide comprising a peptide and at least one staple which holds the peptide in an α-helical conformation, and a cyclic cell-penetrating peptide (cCPP) conjugated, directly or indirectly, to the stapled peptide. The present disclosure demonstrates that cCPPs can be used to confer consistent cell-permeability to stapled peptides.

The present technology provides methods and compositions for the treatment of inflammatory and/or tissue damage conditions. In particular, the use of Smad7 compositions delivered locally or systemically to a site of inflammation and/or tissue damage is described. Other specific embodiments concern treatment or prevention of side effects caused by radiation and/or chemotherapy, including but not limited to oral and gastric mucositis. Also provided are codon-optimized nucleic acids encoding for Smad7 fusion proteins.

In certain aspects, the disclosure provides multispecific binders (e.g., ActRIIA:TβRII heteromultimers comprising an ActRIIA polypeptide and a TfiRU polypeptide). The disclosure further provides that such multispecific binders (e.g., ActRIIA:TβRII heteromultimer) may be used to treat various disorders or conditions.

This invention relates to extracellular protein-protein interactions and their possible therapeutic uses. More particularly, this invention describes the interaction between Draxin, particularly fragments binding to γ-Netrins comprising SEQ ID NO.:1, 2 or 3, and variants thereof, with γ-Netrins, and the use of this interaction to disrupt γ-Netrin/Netrin receptor interactions. The invention also relates to diagnostic and/or therapeutic uses of Draxin or fragments or variants thereof, as well as to an antibody against Draxin inhibiting binding of Draxin to γ-Netrins. Further, the invention relates to fragments of γ-Netrins, in particular Draxin-binding Netrin1-fragments comprising SEQ ID NO.: 51 and variants thereof, as well as to an antibody against γ-Netrins inhibiting binding of γ-Netrins to Netrin receptors.

The invention relates to compounds, compositions, and methods for derepressing RE1 silencing transcription factor (REST) target genes are provided. In particular, a peptide having the sequence TEDLEPPEPPLPKEN (SEQ. ID NO: 1) and EDLEPPEP-PLPK (SEQ. ID NO: 15), or the reversed sequences made of D-amino acids (retro inverted, RI) nekplppeppeldet (SEQ ID NO: 16) and kplppeppelde (SEQ ID NO: 17), are disclosed for inhibiting REST activity. The peptides are useful to treat, prevent, or amelio-rate conditions such as traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, dementia, Huntington's Disease (HD), chronic pain, brain cancer (including glioblastoma multiforme), pancreatic cancer; diabetes, and peripheral nerve injury

Compositions and methods for treating neurofibromatic disorders are provided herein, such as expressing Merlin protein or a functional fragment thereof from a viral vector.

Methods of treating and preventing diseases associated with fibrosis are disclosed, as well as agents for use in such methods. The methods comprise inhibiting at least one of ITFG1, MFAP4, GRHPR, ABCC4, PAK3, TRNP1, APLN, KIF20A, and† or LTB. In one embodiment, the disease is a liver disease or condition. Also disclosed are methods of promoting regeneration of cells, such as hepatocytes.

The invention relates to a genetically modified mouse comprising a heterozygous mutation of Tardbp (TDP-43) gene in that the Asn at amino acid 390 in TDP-43 is substituted with an amino acid that is different from Asn, wherein the genetically modified mouse exhibits Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)-like phenotypes, TDP-43 proteinopathies and/or motor neuron degeneration. The invention also so relates to an isolated spinal cord motor neuron differentiated from an embryonic stem cell (ESC) that is obtained from an offspring of a genetically modified mouse according to the invention. Methods for identifying an agent alleviating and/or suppressing ALS-TDP pathogenesis are also disclosed.

Disclosed herein is a recombinant adenovirus genome, said adenovirus genome comprising a heterologous nucleic acid inserted into a cloning site of said genome, said heterologous nucleic acid comprising: (a) a first nucleic acid sequence comprising an adenovirus tripartite sequence (e.g., SEQ ID NO:1) operably linked to a second nucleic acid sequence encoding an interferon (e.g., SEQ ID NO:2); (b) a third nucleic acid sequence comprising a bovine growth hormone polyA termination sequence operably linked to said second nucleic acid sequence (e.g., SEQ ID NO:3); (c) a fourth nucleic acid sequence comprising a porcine elongation factor 1-alpha (EF1α) promoter (e.g., SEQ ID NO:4); (d) a fifth nucleic acid sequence operably linked to said fourth nucleic acid sequence, said fifth nucleic acid sequence encoding a suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 (SOCS1) protein (e.g., SEQ ID NO:5). Furthermore, there is disclosed a method of producing interferon in an animal (e.g., swine).