Methods and reagents for diagnosing, prognosing, and treating systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are disclosed, involving calculating an SLE risk score for a subject based on a level of each of an erythrocyte C4d (EC4d) marker, a B-cell C4d (BC4d) marker, anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA), and optional rule-out markers.

The present invention provides compounds and methods targeting human interleukin-19, including therapeutic antibodies, pharmaceutical compositions and diagnostic applications useful in the field of immune-mediated diseases including psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, psoriatic arthritis, bronchial asthma and diabetic nephropathy.

The invention generally provides improved compositions and methods for monitoring immune status of a subject. In particular, the invention provides methods for detecting BCMA in subjects to reliably monitor immune status of the subject.

There are provided a method and a kit for evaluating allergen inactivators, the method and kit making it possible to carry out a precise and reproducible evaluation irrespective of the type of test drug, or the type of accompanying components thereof, that is subject to the evaluation.

A method for evaluating allergen inactivators, said method being characterized by comprising: a step for preparing an allergen-supporting membrane configured by supporting allergens on a membrane for supporting allergens; a step for treating the allergen-supporting membrane using a test drug; a step for washing the allergen-supporting membrane treated using the test drug, and subsequently treating the allergen-supporting membrane using antibodies specific to the allergens; a step for washing the allergen-supporting membrane treated using the antibodies specific to the allergens, and subsequently detecting the specific antibodies bound to the allergens; and a step for assessing the extent to which the allergens are inactivated by the test drug based on the detected quantity of the specific antibodies.

The invention provides methods of testing food for antigens that are more stable to food processing than more clinically problematic allergens from the same food. When clinically-significant allergens are disproportionately broken down by common preparation methods, the presence of certain food ingredients may be “masked” to some tests yet may still be allergenic. To prevent false negative results due to food preparation, the invention provides tests that test for specific food antigens that are selected on the basis of their stability under processing. Antigens are selected for inclusion in the test not because they are the most clinically relevant allergens, but rather because they are robust to processing (e.g., and do not denature during cooking). Tests of the invention may also test for the most clinically relevant allergens, but importantly, by testing for stable protein products/antigens, the tests report the presence of food residues even after commercial processing.

Methods and reagents for diagnosing, prognosing, and treating systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are disclosed, involving calculating an SLE risk score for a subject based on a level of each of an erythrocyte C4d (EC4d) marker, a B-cell C4d (BC4d) marker, antinuclear antibodies (ANA), anti-Smith antibodies (anti-Sm) and optional rule-out markers (SS-B/La, Scl-70, Jo-1, CENP, MCV).

The invention relates to allergic disease, to the development of allergic disease in infants, to determining the likelihood of development of allergic disease in infants and to minimizing the likelihood of development of allergic disease in infants.

The present invention provides isolated immune cells, immune cell populations and compositions, as well as markers, marker signatures and molecular targets characterising the immune cells. The cell products, substances, compositions, markers, marker signatures, molecular targets, kits of parts and methods of the present invention provide for new ways to characterise, evaluate and modulate the immune system and immune responses.

The present invention relates to a composition comprising (i) a first substance which is capable to stimulate T cells, (ii) a second substance which is capable to stimulate NK cells (natural killer cells), and (iii) lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and wherein the second substance is a double stranded nucleic acid, single stranded nucleic acid, unmethylated CpG oligodeoxynucleotide, TLR agonist except lipopolysaccharide (LPS), arabinoxylan (BioBran® MGN-3), an immunoglobulin, a murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV)-encoded protein, CCL5 (chemokine (C—C motif) ligand 5), a UL-16-binding protein (ULBP), CD48, CD70, CD155, CD112, Necl-1, B7-H6, ICAM-1, RAE-1 (retinoic acid early inducible 1), 1160, Mult1 and/or hemagglutinin, to a method for measuring, determining and/or detecting the status of cell-mediated immune responsiveness of a subject, to a kit comprising the composition according to the invention, to the use of the composition for measuring, determining and/or detecting of cell-mediated immunity (CMI) and/or for detecting, diagnosing, monitoring an immunosuppression condition in a subject.

Disclosed are methods of diagnosing and treating a subject with active or inactive eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). The methods may include the steps of detecting whether a level of one or more immunoglobulin antibodies is elevated in an esophageal secretion sample obtained from a subject, diagnosing the subject with active EoE when the level of one or more immunoglobulin antibodies in the sample is elevated above a pre-determined cut-off value and diagnosing the subject with inactive EoE when the level of one or more immunoglobulin antibodies level in the sample is below a pre-determined cut-off value; and treating the subject diagnosed with active EoE.