The present invention relates to a method for assessing atrial fibrillation in a subject, said method comprising the steps of determining the amount of BMP 10 in a sample from the subject, and comparing the amount of BMP 10 to a reference amount, whereby atrial fibrillation is to be assessed. Moreover, the present invention relates to a method for diagnosing heart failure based on the determination of BMP 10 in a sample from a subject. Further, the present invention relates to a method for predicting the risk of a subject of hospitalization due to heart failure based on the determination of a BMP 10-type peptide in a sample from a subject.

The present disclosure provides methods, devices, kits, and agents for the treatment of aging and aging related diseases and disorders and related systems and methods.

The present invention relates methods of treatment using BMP6 antagonists.

An object of the present invention is to provide an anti-BMP10 antibody, and a therapeutic agent for hypertension and a hypertensive disease, containing the antibody as an active ingredient. The present invention relates to an anti-BMP10 monoclonal antibody or an antibody fragment thereof that binds to human BMP10 (bone morphogenetic protein 10). Further, the present invention relates to a therapeutic agent for hypertension and a hypertensive disease containing an antagonist for at least one of BMP10 and a BMP9/BMP10 heterodimer, a diagnostic agent or a pharmaceutical composition for a disease associated with human BMP10, an immunological detection method or a measurement method for human BMP10 using the antagonist, and use of the antagonist for producing a pharmaceutical composition for treating hypertension and a hypertensive disease.

The present invention provides a method for inducing osteogenic differentiation, the method comprising the following steps of: (1) culturing pluripotent stem cells under feeder-free conditions, (2) culturing the cells in a mixed culture medium of an osteogenic induction medium and a pluripotent stem cell medium, the mixed culture medium containing a ROCK inhibitor and a retinoic acid receptor or agonist, and (3) culturing the cells in an osteogenic induction medium containing the retinoic acid receptor or agonist. The method for inducing osteogenic differentiation according to the present invention is a simple, short-term, highly efficient and highly reproducible one-procedure method for inducing osteogenic differentiation, wherein the method is suitable for bone regeneration therapies, the development of bone metabolic drugs and the development of novel therapies for bone diseases.

This disclosure provides data showing that LEFTY inhibits differentiation-promoting pathways such as BMP7/pSMAD5 in breast cancer cell lines, over and above its known role of inhibiting Nodal/pSMAD2. LEFTY competes with BMP7 to bind to its cell surface receptor BMPR2, leading to inhibition of pSMAD5. The LEFTY-BMPR2 interaction is dominant over BMP-BMPR2 in tumorigenic cells, resulting in diminished pSMAD status, whereas in non-tumorigenic cells, there is minimal LEFTY-BMPR2 interaction, increased BMP7-BMPR2 association, and elevated pSMAD. Compositions and methods for inducing or inhibiting expression and/or the activity of LEFTY and BMP proteins are described, which can be used in diagnosis and therapy of cancer and other conditions, and to promote proliferation of stem cells.

A method for predicting therapeutic responsiveness of a cancer patient to a cancer immunotherapeutic agent, a composition for predicting therapeutic responsiveness, and a kit for predicting therapeutic responsiveness are disclosed. It is possible to distinguish patient groups for which a cancer immunotherapeutic agent is effective from patient groups for which a cancer immunotherapeutic agent is ineffective, in advance, thus greatly enhancing the efficiency of the anticancer therapy using the cancer immunotherapeutic agent.

The finding that patients with Sjgren's syndrome exhibit a statistically significant increase in expression of BMP6 in the salivary gland relative to healthy control subjects is described. Also described is the finding that overexpression of BMP6 in the salivary glands of mice results in an increase in electrical potential across the salivary gland. Thus, methods of diagnosing a subject as having Sjgren's syndrome, or at risk for developing Sjgren's syndrome, by measuring the level of BMP6 expression in a salivary gland of a subject, measuring electrical potential in a salivary gland of a subject, or both, are disclosed. Also described are methods of treating a subject with Sjgren's syndrome by administering an agent that inhibits expression of BMP6 expression or activity. Further disclosed is the use of XIST and MECP2 as diagnostic and therapeutic targets for male Sjgren's syndrome patients.

This invention provides devices and methods for self-administered noninvasive retrieval of biological materials of the uterus and cervix, and preimplantation stage embryos. The procedure uses a Uterine Device, with a receptacle of variable volume, a controller configured to change the volume of the receptacle cavity, a flexible pouch for generation of suction to facilitate their retrieval, and an Absorption Capsule, which is a surface for collection of the above biological materials. The biological materials retrieved include cells and secretions, directly from the site of pathology, not metabolized or diluted in the body fluids, allow comprehensive analysis of various biomarkers of diseases and disorders of reproduction. Information generated by analyzing these biological materials permits early diagnosis and assessment of prognosis of diseases and disorders of the female reproductive organs, irregularities of pregnancy, anomalies of the fetus in utero, and microbial infections. The preimplantation stage embryos are recovered from normal subjects or those received treatment of gonadotrophins and/or other methods for induction of ovulation or superovulation to improve the yield of ovulated oocytes (ova). Multiple ova released from the ovaries travel through the fallopian tubes, which may be fertilized with sperms made available by artificial or normal insemination (copulation). The fertilized embryos divide and differentiate further into free preimplantation stage embryos at morula- and blastocyst-stages are deposited on the Absorption Capsule. These embryos, retrieved from the Absorption Capsule and may be processed by a variety of methods routinely utilized in the Assisted Reproductive procedures, including, screening for various genomic diseases, karyotype errors of trisomy and other chromosomal anomalies, and deleterious mutations. The screening procedures may involve Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) and Trophectoderm biopsy methods. Normal embryos free of disease potential are transferred to the mothers or surrogates for further in utero development. These procedures allow prevention of human birth defects and pre- and post-natal genomic diseases by selection of disease-free normal embryos for further in utero development, and possible cure of genomic diseases at this stage, in the future.

The invention features methods of treating melanoma by modulating an activity of GDF6 in melanoma cells. In one aspect, the methods involve downregulating an activity of GDF6, for example, by using an anti-GDF6 binding molecule, such as an inactivating antibody. Another aspect features treating a subject by first screening for the presence of GDF6 and then treating the subject with an inhibitor of a GDF6 activity. Screening assays for identification of modulators of an activity of GDF6 are also featured.