In various embodiments methods are provided for identifying a mammal having an elevated risk for an adverse cardiac event (e.g. an MI) and/or determining the prognosis for the mammal. In certain embodiments the methods comprise determining, or causing to be determined, the presence and/or level of antibodies that bind a malondialdehyde acetaldehyde adduct (MAA adduct) in a biological sample from the mammal, where an elevated level of anti-MAA adduct antibodies, as compared to the level found in a normal healthy mammal is an indicator that that said mammal has one or more atherosclerotic lesions and/or is at elevated risk for a myocardial infarction.

The invention provides a method of selecting a mutant polypeptide having lysine demodification, in particular lysine deacylation, activity, wherein the method comprises the following steps (a) incubating a mutant polypeptide having an amino acid sequence with at least 80% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 1 with a peptide or polypeptide comprising an inactivated essential lysine residue; and (b) determining the activity of the mutant polypeptide to activate the peptide or polypeptide comprising the inactivated essential lysine residue, wherein the mutant polypeptide and the peptide or polypeptide comprising an inactivated essential lysine residue are incubated in a biological cell. The invention furthermore relates to an acylated luciferase, particularly Firefly luciferase, and uses thereof. The present invention furthermore relates to a mutant polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence having at least 98% sequence homology with SEQ ID NOs: 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 and having lysine demodification, in particular lysine deacylation, activity, wherein the mutant polypeptide is not identical to SEQ ID NO: 1. The invention also relates to the mutant polypeptide of the invention and a peptide or polypeptide comprising an inactivated essential lysine residue for use in treating cancer.

The invention relates to a new method of determining the presence, absence, number or position(s) of one or more post-translational modifications in a peptide, polypeptide or protein. The invention uses transmembrane pores.

In various embodiments methods are provided for identifying a mammal having an elevated risk for an adverse cardiac event (e.g. an MI) and/or determining the prognosis for the mammal. In certain embodiments the methods comprise determining, or causing to be determined, the presence and/or level of antibodies that bind a malondialdehyde-acetaldheyde adduct (MAA adduct) in a biological sample from the mammal, where an elevated level of anti-MAA adduct antibodies, as compared to the level found in a normal healthy mammal is an indicator that that said mammal has one or more atherosclerotic lesions and/or is at elevated risk for a myocardial infarction.

The present invention relates to a pharmaceutical composition for preventing or treating neurodegenerative diseases comprising a COX2 acetylating agent as an active ingredient and, more particularly, to a pharmaceutical composition for preventing or treating neurodegenerative diseases comprising, as an active ingredient, a COX2 acetylating agent which exhibits an effect of inhibiting the deposition of amyloid- in brain neurons, reducing excessive neuroinflammatory responses, and increasing the phagocytosis of amyloid- in microglial cells. The pharmaceutical composition for preventing or treating neurodegenerative diseases comprising the COX2 acetylating agent as an active ingredient has the effects of alleviating neuroinflammation by promoting COX2 acetylation in neurons and secreting specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs) and thus, can be very useful in the development of a preventive or therapeutic agent for neurodegenerative diseases.

The present invention relates to a pharmaceutical composition for preventing or treating neurodegenerative diseases comprising a COX2 acetylating agent as an active ingredient and, more particularly, to a pharmaceutical composition for preventing or treating neurodegenerative diseases comprising, as an active ingredient, a COX2 acetylating agent which exhibits an effect of inhibiting the deposition of amyloid-? in brain neurons, reducing excessive neuroinflammatory responses, and increasing the phagocytosis of amyloid-? in microglial cells. The pharmaceutical composition for preventing or treating neurodegenerative diseases comprising the COX2 acetylating agent as an active ingredient has the effects of alleviating neuroinflammation by promoting COX2 acetylation in neurons and secreting specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs) and thus, can be very useful in the development of a preventive or therapeutic agent for neurodegenerative diseases.

The invention provides an isolated peptide comprising a lysine 3-hydroxybutyrylation site, a lysine 3-hydroxybutyrylation specific affinity reagent that specifically binds to the peptide, and a method for detecting protein lysine 3-hydroxybutyrylation in a sample using the reagent.

The invention provides an isolated peptide comprising a lysine 2-hydroxyisobutyrylation site, a lysine 2-hydroxyisobutyrylation specific affinity reagent that specifically binds to the peptide, and a method for detecting protein lysine 2-hydroxyisobutyrylation in a sample using the reagent.

The present application provides methods for preparing soluble lipidated ligand agents comprising a ligand entity and a lipid entity, and in some embodiments, provides relevant parameters of each of these components, thereby enabling appropriate selection of components to assemble active agents for any given target of interest.

The invention provides an isolated peptide comprising a crotonylation site, a Kcr-specific affinity reagent that specifically binds to the peptide, and a method for detecting protein crotonylation in a sample using the reagent.