The present invention features diagnostic compositions and methods for predicting the age of onset of a lysosomal storage disease or a disease associated with a lysosomal defect in subject.

The present invention relates to biomarkers and diagnostic and prognostic methods for Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. The invention also provides compositions for detecting the biomarker as well as compositions and methods useful for treating Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.

Airway stem cells have been implicated in the pathology and progression of chronic airway diseases and yet also hold the promise of physiological and ultimately therapeutic repair of damage wrought by these conditions. The present invention is based on the observation that certain p63-expressing stem cells in the bronchiolar epithelium undergo rapid proliferation after infection and radiate to interbronchiolar regions of alveolar ablation. Once there, these cells assemble into discrete, Krt5+ pods and initiate expression of markers typical of alveoli. The dynamics of this p63-expressing stem cell in lung regeneration mirrors parallel findings that defined pedigrees of human distal airway stem cells assemble alveoli-like structures in vitro and provides new therapeutic avenues to acute and chronic airway disease as well as identifying agents which can promote repair.

It is intended to provide an anti-human CD26 antibody which permits analysis, etc., of the expression of CD26 in cancer tissues, immune tissues, or the like, for example, in order to select a patient applicable to treatment or to monitor therapeutic effects, and can also be used in immunostaining. The present invention relates to an anti-human CD26 monoclonal antibody or an antigen-binding fragment thereof, binding to an epitope which is recognized by a monoclonal antibody produced by a hybridoma deposited under Accession No. NITE BP-01642, a hybridoma deposited under Accession No. NITE BP-01643, or a hybridoma deposited under Accession No. NITE BP-01644.

A method of preparing a bone graft. Mixing bone marrow aspirate with an effective amount of a binding reagent that is capable of binding with red blood cells in the bone marrow aspirate. The bound red blood cells are aggregated. The aggregated bound red blood cells are separated from the bone marrow aspirate to provide a supernatant. At least a portion of the supernatant is associated with an osteoconductive matrix to form the bone graft.

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to the use of NHE3 as an early biomarker for radiation biodosimetry. In other embodiments, the present invention relates to the use of NHE3 as a biomarker for determining the absorbed radiation dose in a subject who has been exposed to a known or unknown dose of ionizing radiation. Further embodiments relate to the use of NHE3 as a biomarker for determining effectiveness of a therapy for reducing radiation toxicity. Advantageously, the diagnostic and prognostic assays of the present invention are rapid, sensitive, and non-invasive, rendering it useful in civilian and military industries.

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to the use of NHE3 as an early biomarker for radiation biodosimetry. In other embodiments, the present invention relates to the use of NHE3 as a biomarker for determining the absorbed radiation dose in a subject who has been exposed to a known or unknown dose of ionizing radiation. Further embodiments relate to the use of NHE3 as a biomarker for determining effectiveness of a therapy for reducing radiation toxicity. Advantageously, the diagnostic and prognostic assays of the present invention are rapid, sensitive, and non-invasive, rendering it useful in civilian and military industries.

The present invention provides an ex vivo method for aiding the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease in a patient comprising: (i) determining the number of alleles of ApoE4 in the patient's genome; (ii) determining the combined expression level of at least three platelet proteins in a platelet sample from the patient; and (iii) comparing the resulting value of step (ii) to a control value, wherein the at least three platelet proteins include at least one isoform of alpha-tropomyosin containing exon 1a and at least two platelet proteins selected from monoamine oxidase-B, coagulation factor XIIIa, wild-type GSTO-1 or mutant GSTO-1, wherein a result higher than the control value is indicative of Alzheimer's disease. The invention also provides a solid support comprising one or more ligands of at least one isoform of alpha-tropomyosin containing exon 1a, and one or more ligands of at least two platelet proteins selected from monoamine oxidase-B, coagulation factor XIIIa, wild-type GSTO-1 protein and/or mutant GSTO-1 protein immobilized thereon.

Methods and kits for the diagnosis of illnesses related to protocadherin 19 (PCDH 19) protein deficiency or altered PCDH 19 protein function, in particular EFMR (Epilepsy and Mental Retardation limited to Females) are provided, as well as methods and kits for the identification of a predisposition to such illnesses and methods of screening subjects to identify carriers of such illnesses and methods and kits for the therapeutic or prophylactic treatment of PCDH 19 deficiency or altered PCDH 19 protein function. Further, nucleotide and amino acid sequences corresponding to a complete PCDH19 open reading frame (ORF), mutant sequences encoding non-functional PCDH19 mRNA or altered PCDH19 mRN A are described along with transformed cells and non-human transgenic animals comprising wild-type or mutant PCDH19 ORF nucleotide sequences.

Th17-prone CD146.sup.+CCR5.sup.+ T-cell population as an early biomarker of intestinal graft-versus-host disease and its use for determining prognosis of intestinal GVHD before the clinical signs are apparent are disclosed.