A method for predicting maintenance of response to IL-23 antibody therapy and treating a patient having psoriasis with extended dosing intervals after measuring at least one indicator from psoriasis patients before and during treatment with an IL-23 antibody is useful in the treatment of psoriasis.

The invention relates generally to variant activatable antibodies that include a masking moiety (MM), a cleavable moiety (CM), and an antibody (AB) that specifically binds to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and to methods of making and using these variant anti-EGFR activatable antibodies in a variety of therapeutic, diagnostic and prophylactic indications.

The present invention relates to a method of diagnosing eczema and/or psoriasis, wherein said method differentiates between eczema and psoriasis, and comprises determining the expression of at least two markers in a sample taken from an individual, wherein said at least two markers are selected from CCL27, NOS2, IL36G, KLK13, SOST, NPTX1, PLA2G4D, GDA, IL36A, TGM1, CLEC4G, IL13, TCN1, TMPRSS11D and RHCG, provided that said at least two markers consist of or comprise (a) CCL27 and NOS2; (b) CCL27 and KLK13; (c) IL36G and KLK13; (d) CCL27 and IL36G; (e) NOS2 and IL36G; (f) NOS2 and KLK13; (g) SOST; or (h) NPTX1; and assessing on the basis of the expression of said at least two

The present invention relates to a method of diagnosing eczema and/or psoriasis, wherein said method differentiates between eczema and psoriasis, and comprises determining the expression of at least two markers in a sample taken from an individual, wherein said at least two markers are selected from CCL27, NOS2, IL36G, KLK13, SOST, NPTX1, PLA2G4D, GDA, IL36A, TGM1, CLEC4G, IL13, TCN1, TMPRSS11D and RHCG, provided that said at least two markers consist of or comprise (a) CCL27 and NOS2; (b) CCL27 and KLK13; (c) IL36G and KLK13; (d) CCL27 and IL36G; (e) NOS2 and IL36G; (f) NOS2 and KLK13; (g) SOST; or (h) NPTX1; and assessing on the basis of the expression of said at least two markers whether the individual is afflicted with eczema and/or psoriasis.

A method of evaluating the health of skin, containing the steps of: preparing a lipid sample from a collected sample of a stratum corneum of a test subject; quantitatively determining respective contents of one kind of ceramide component A and one kind of ceramide component B included in the prepared lipid sample prepared from a collected sample of a stratum corneum of the test subject; calculating the content ratio of the quantitatively determined content of the ceramide component A to the quantitatively determined content of the ceramide component B; and evaluating the health of the skin of the test subject from the calculated content ratio;
wherein the ceramide component A is selected from the group consisting of a non-hydroxyacyl-phytosphingosine ceramide, a non-hydroxyacyl-6-hydroxysphingosine ceramide component, an esterified -hydroxyacyl-6-hydroxysphingosine ceramide component and an esterified -hydroxyacyl-phytosphingosine ceramide component; and the ceramide component B is selected from the group consisting of a non-hydroxyacyl-sphingosine ceramide and an -hydroxyacyl-sphingosine ceramide component.

The presently disclosed subject matter is directed to an assay that detects and quantitatively determines the activity of a lytic peptide that exhibits antimicrobial activity, such as LL-37. Particularly, the assay comprises inducing and/or transfecting bacteria to produce high levels of an enzyme, such as -galactosidase. The bacteria are then preserved by lyophilization. After a desired amount of time, the bacteria are hydrated with a target sample from a subject suspected of having a specific disease or disorder characterized by an increase in levels of lytic peptide. In the presence of lytic peptide, the enzyme is released from the interior of the bacteria, which can then be detected by alteration of the enzyme substrate. In the absence of lytic peptide, the enzyme remains within the bacteria and no detection of the enzyme occurs.

The presently disclosed subject matter is directed to an assay that detects and quantitatively determines the activity of a lytic peptide that exhibits antimicrobial activity, such as LL-37. Particularly, the assay comprises inducing and/or transfecting bacteria to produce high levels of an enzyme, such as -galactosidase. The bacteria are then preserved by lyophilization. After a desired amount of time, the bacteria are hydrated with a target sample from a subject suspected of having a specific disease or disorder characterized by an increase in levels of lytic peptide. In the presence of lytic peptide, the enzyme is released from the interior of the bacteria, which can then be detected by alteration of the enzyme substrate. In the absence of lytic peptide, the enzyme remains within the bacteria and no detection of the enzyme occurs.

The present invention provides a novel antibody targeting TLR9.

The present invention provides methods for the determination of the activation level of Receptor Tyrosine kinases, e.g. phosporylated HER3, for the selection of patients for disease treatment. Methods are also provided for the evaluation of the biological and pharmacodynamic effects of an active substance and/or its efficacy in disease treatment, utilizing a tissue sample from a test subject, for example tumor material or normal tissue such as skin or hair follicle. Further, methods for the treatment of HER receptor-associated diseases are disclosed.

The present invention is based on the discovery of genetic polymorphisms that are associated with psoriasis and related pathologies. In particular, the present invention relates to nucleic acid molecules containing the polymorphisms, including groups of nucleic acid molecules that may be used as a signature marker set, such as a haplotype, a diplotype, variant proteins encoded by such nucleic acid molecules, reagents for detecting the polymorphic nucleic acid molecules and proteins, and methods of using the nucleic acid and proteins as well as methods of using reagents for their detection.