The present invention is directed to methods of using biomarkers to assess treatment of gastrointestinal inflammatory disorders with beta7 antagonists. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods of using the level of gut-homing lymphocytes in peripheral blood, the level of drug occupancy on gut-homing lymphocytes, and/or the level of beta7 integrin receptors on gut-homing lymphocytes as indicators (or biomarkers) of the effect, efficacy, safety, prognosis, and/or dosing of therapeutic agents, such as beta7 integrin antagonists, for the treatment of gastrointestinal inflammatory disorders.

The present invention relates to uses of inhibitors of human Growth and Differentiation Factor 15 (GDF-15), and to combined uses of such inhibitors with immune checkpoint blockers, in the treatment of solid cancers.

The disclosure provides a mouse model of arteriovenous malformation, such as found in Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia, that accurately and persistently models the disease progression in various organisms, including humans. The disclosure further provides a mouse comprising a mutant Ephrin pathway gene, such as Alk1, in brain endothelial cells only, and methods of screening for therapeutically useful modulators of Ephrin pathway gene expression or gene product activity useful in treating or ameliorating a symptom of arteriovenous malformation, such as Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia or hemorrhagic stroke.

Provided are a culture medium and cultivation method of rapidly expanding primary cells of esophageal squamous carcinoma in vitro, and the use thereof in screening drugs. The culture medium comprises an initial culture medium selected from DMEM/F12, DMEM, F12, or RPMI-1640, a Rho protease inhibitor, an antibiotic, insulin, an N2 additive, insulin-like growth factor 1, a non-essential amino acid, and optionally, hydrocortisone, optionally, glutamine, and optionally, bovine pituitary extract.

Assays for screening for, or determining activity of, an agonist of lymphocyte-activation gene 3 (LAG-3) are described. According to the assays, a plurality of effector T cells is provided, each effector T cell expressing LAG-3 and a T-cell receptor (TCR) on its surface, and comprising a reporter gene encoding a reporter, wherein expression of the reporter is regulated by LAG-3-mediated inhibition of TCR signaling within the effector T cells. Activity of the agonist is determined from the extent to which expression of the reporter is altered in the presence of the agonist compared with expression of the reporter in the absence of the agonist. The assays may be used for determining the potency of a preparation of the agonist as part of a quality control step in production of the agonist, or for stability testing of a preparation of the agonist. Kits for carrying out the assays are also described.

Provided is an adhesive tape for collecting skin indigenous microorganisms, the adhesive tape being capable of providing improved collection yields of skin indigenous microorganisms on a skin surface. This adhesive tape is for collecting skin indigenous microorganisms, is used to collect skin indigenous microorganism on a skin surface, and comprises a base material and an adhesive layer provided on at least a portion of a surface of the base material, wherein the adhesive layer contains an adhesive, and the adhesive contains a rubber adhesive. The adhesive tape has an adhesive strength of 10.0 N or more when a 12 mm-wide test piece thereof is pressure-bonded to a Bakelite plate by one reciprocation of a 2 kg roller and then measured for adhesive strength at a pulling speed of 300 mm/min and a pulling angle of 90° according to JIS Z 0237: 2009, and the adhesive tape has a peel strength of 0.25 N or more when a 12 mm-wide test piece thereof is measured using a silicone-treated fine paper sheet as a release sheet and measured for peel strength at a pulling speed of 300 mm/min and a pulling angle of 180° according to JIS Z 0237: 2009.

The present disclosure relates to compositions and methods for rapid prediction, based upon early single cell transcriptomic assessment of a biopsied sample obtained from a subject, of whether a subject will be responsive to a drug.

Described herein are bee-safe acaricides that target the varroa mite-specific neuropeptidergic system regulated by proctolin, and methods of use. The acaricides comprise a peptide analog or peptidomimetic of varroa mite proctolin for selective targeting of this pest in a bee colony. The compounds are also effective against other pests, such as ticks. The peptide analog or peptidomimetic generally comprises one or two amino acid residue substitutions or insertions. Also described herein are methods of screening compounds for activity on a proctolin receptor.

This invention relates to novel compositions comprising analogs of naturally occurring polypeptides, wherein the analog comprises an α-amino acid and at least one β-amino acid. Administration of the compositions may be used for effecting treatment or prevention of a plurality of disease states caused by dysfunctional biochemical or biological pathways. The compositions and methods of this invention are particularly useful to identify novel therapeutic modulators of in-vivo receptor activity with extended half-lives and relevant bioactivity as compared to the naturally translated polypeptides upon which the analogs are derived.

Methods described herein include receiving data from flowing a plurality of aptamers over a sample of tumor cells randomly affixed to a surface of a microfluidic device. The tumor cells may include one or more unknown tumor subtypes of cells. The plurality of aptamers may include a plurality of aptamer families. Each aptamer family of the plurality of aptamer families may be determined to bind to at least one possible subtype of the tumor cells. The data may include a measure of binding affinity of each aptamer family to the tumor cells. The method may include analyzing the measure of the binding affinity of each aptamer family to the tumor cells. The analyzing may include classifying the binding affinity. The method may also include determining one or more aptamer families that characterize the one or more unknown tumor subtypes of cells based on the classifying.