The present application relates to natural killer (NK) cell-specific tests that are useful in determining the expansion potential and function of NK cells.

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.

The present invention relates to a method for subjecting a plurality of microwells containing cells to a high-content assay, said method comprising: a) Acquiring at least one image of said plurality of microwells; b) In said image, detecting a plurality of areas of interest, each area of interest corresponding to a single cell; c) Measuring at least one derived property, and, optionally, at least one direct property of said areas of interest, where said one or more properties is a selection property; d) Selecting a subset of said plurality of microwells, where said microwells belonging to the subset contain areas of interest selected based on said at least one selection property; e) Extrapolating an output parameter from a property measured in the set of areas of interest selected, where said property is defined as output property, said output property being distinct from said selection properties where said output parameter is the processing of an output property measured in said set of areas of interest. In a further aspect, there are claimed a system for subjecting a plurality of microwells containing cells to a high-content assay and a computer program which comprises instructions for subjecting a plurality of microwells containing cells to a high-content assay.

Methods and devices are provided herein for identifying a cell population comprising an effector cell that exerts an extracellular effect. In one embodiment the method comprises retaining in a microreactor a cell population comprising one or more effector cells, wherein the contents of the microreactor further comprise a readout particle population comprising one or more readout particles, incubating the cell population and the readout particle population within the microreactor, assaying the cell population for the presence of the extracellular effect, wherein the readout particle population or subpopulation thereof provides a direct or indirect readout of the extracellular effect, and determining, based on the results of the assaying step, whether one or more effector cells within the cell population exerts the extracellular effect on the readout particle. If an extracellular effect is measured, the cell population is recovered for further analysis to determine the cell or cells responsible for the effect.

Compositions and methods useful for the diagnosis and treatment of juvenile idiopathic arthritis are disclosed.

The present invention relates to the detection or diagnosis of infection or inflammation in a patient. In particular, the invention provides methods that allow the detection of markers in a sample from a patient or subject, such as a blood sample, which will indicate whether the patient or subject has an infection or has an inflammatory response.

A method of determining a percentage of cell-types in a saliva specimen includes the steps of obtaining genomic DNA from the saliva specimen, observing cytosine methylation at specific CG loci in the genomic DNA of the saliva specimen, comparing the observed methylation with the methylation observed in genomic DNA collected from a reference group of saliva specimens and correlating the CG loci methylation observed in the genomic DNA of the saliva specimen with the methylation observed in the genomic DNA of the reference group of saliva specimens to determine the percentage of cell-types in the saliva specimen.

Provided herein, are methods of treating cancer in dogs using personalized cancer vaccines comprising peptides having frameshift mutations caused by errors in transcription and splicing of an mRNA.

The present invention refers to an in vitro method for obtaining clinical data in patients suffering from an inflammatory disease, preferably, for predicting mortality risk among patients suffering from sepsis or for deciding whether to administer a medical treatment to a patient suffering from an autoinflammatory syndrome.

Disclosed are compositions and methods for measuring the likelihood of recovery of a recently thawed immune cell. Methods include assaying the level of an ADAM-17-cleaved surface receptor expressed on the immune cells, wherein the level of the surface receptor directly correlates with the likelihood of immune cell recovery (i.e., the greater the increase of the expression level an ADAM-17-cleaved surface receptor relative to a control, the greater the likelihood of recovery). The method can be used to determine if immune cells have sufficient viability to be used in immunotherapy before use.