Disclosed are methods of diagnosing a subject as having a solid tumor or a predisposition to developing a solid tumor. The methods include detecting or quantitating the amount of sCD27 in a serum sample obtained from a subject and comparing that amount of sCD27 with a control value indicative of the basal level of sCD27 present in the serum of a subject that does not have a solid tumor or a predisposition to developing a solid tumor, wherein a reduction of the amount of sCD27 relative to the control value indicates that the subject has the solid tumor or the predisposition to developing the solid tumor. The disclosed methods can be used to monitoring disease progression in a subject or determine a subject's suitability for immunotherapy. Also disclosed are methods of stimulating a subject's immune system by administering a therapeutically effective amount of sCD27 or a functional fragment.

Methods, systems and kits to detect and/or quantify lupus and disease progression in a subject having, or at risk of having, lupus are disclosed.

The invention provides for a RANKL-specific antagonistic agent recognizing human platelet-expressed receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (pRANKL), for use in treating a cancer patient to prevent or reduce premetastatic lesions in blood.

A kit is disclosed for distinguishing between bacterial and viral infections. One of the antibodies of the kit specifically binds to TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) protein and another of the antibodies of the kit specifically binds to Procalcitonin (PCT) protein.

High affinity and specificity antibodies capable of binding to human CD70. Also provided herein are methods for producing such anti-CD70 antibodies and uses thereof for detecting CD70, for example, cell surface CD70.

A method of measuring risk assessment in a patient with appendicitis is disclosed. The method comprises: (a) measuring the TRAIL protein level in a blood sample of the patient; (b) providing a risk assessment based on the TRAIL protein level.

Inventors have shown that CD70 and CD27 are highly expressed in ccRCC and correlates with poor survival. Multiplex IF demonstrated that CD27+T cells interact with CD70+ tumor cells in tumor microenvironment (TME). CD27+T cells are more apoptotic than CD27−T cells in ccRCC. Elevated levels of plasma sCD27 is observed in ccRCC patients and correlates with CD27−CD70 interaction in situ. Their study demonstrates that CD27−CD70 interaction contributes to the release of sCD27 in peripheral blood in ccRCC, indicating that sCD27 is a potential biomarker. The apoptosis of CD27+T cells suggests the deleterious effect of CD27−CD70 interaction in T cell response. Therefore, CD27/CD70 is a promising therapeutic target in ccRCC. Accordingly, the invention relates to a method for determining the interaction between CD27 and CD70 by determining the level of soluble CD27 (sCD27) in a biological sample and to method of targeting CD27/CD70 interaction to treat a cancer or metastatic cancer.

The invention provides methods of simultaneously detecting one or more biomarkers associated with one or more platelets in a platelet sample by contacting the sample with one or more metal-tagged probes or mixtures thereof; washing the sample to remove unbound probes; and analyzing the sample by mass cytometry to simultaneously detect binding of the one or more metal-tagged probes or mixtures thereof to one or more biomarkers associated with the one or more platelets. Compositions, panels and kits for use with the methods described herein are also provided.

The present invention relates to the finding that TL1A enhances differentiation of TH17 cells, and enhance IL17 secretion from TL17 cells. In one embodiment, the present invention provides a method of treating an inflammatory disease comprising determining the presence of a TL1A signaling profile, and treating the disease by administering a composition comprising a therapeutically effective dosage of one or more inhibitors of TL1A or TH17 cell differentiation. In another embodiment, the disease is characterized by TH17 differentiation.

Biomarker panels for the prediction of patient response to immunotherapy, and methods of use thereof.