The present invention concerns methods and compositions for the treatment of cancer and cancer cells using intravascular administration of a vaccinia virus. In some embodiments, methods and compositions involve a replicative vaccinia virus that encodes GM-CSF.

The present invention relates to methods of treating chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. In particular, the methods provide a new way of reducing neuropathic pain associated with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy by administering a nucleic acid construct encoding human HGF proteins. This application further provides nucleic acid constructs, pharmacological compositions, and methods of administration of the nucleic acid constructs that are effective in treating the neuropathic pain.

The invention provides a method for detection and monitoring of ulcerative colitis (UC) or UC-related dysplasia in a subject that comprises assaying a specimen from the subject for miR-214, PTEN, and/or PDLIM2. An elevated amount of miR-214, or decreased amount of PTEN, and/or PDLIM2, present in the specimen compared to control sample is indicative of UC or UC-related dysplasia. The invention further provides a method of treating UC or colitis-associated colon cancer, in a subject by administering an inhibitor of miR-214.

The invention provides expression vectors or vector systems comprising a polynucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide, wherein the gene is operably linked to a neuronal activity-dependent promoter suitable to drive expression of the gene product in a subject’s neural cells. The features of the expression vectors combine to advantageously improve the treatment of a neurological disorder associated with neuronal hyperexcitability in a subject. The invention also provides the expression vectors or vector systems for use in related methods of treatment, as well as viral particles, cells, kits and methods using the expression vectors or vector systems.

The present invention relates to a composition or cell therapeutic agent for preventing or treating liver fibrosis, containing an exosome or exosome-derived ribonucleic acid. The exosome or ribonucleic acid derived therefrom, of the present invention, has effects of inhibiting activities of hepatic stellate cells and Kupffer cells and reducing the expression of α-SMA and inhibits the progression of liver fibrosis by inhibiting the deposition of collagen, thereby being effectively usable as a cell therapeutic agent for the prevention or treatment of liver fibrosis.

An object of the present invention is to produce a mammalian organ having a complicated cellular composition composed of multiple kinds of cells, such as kidney, pancreas, thymus and hair, in the living body of a non-human animal. The inventors of the present invention applied the chimeric animal assay described above, to a novel solid organ production method. More specifically, the inventors has shown that a model mouse which is deficient of kidney, pancreas, thymus or hair due to the dysfunction of the metanephric mesenchyme that is differentiated into most of an adult kidney, is rescued by blastocyst complementation by the chimeric animal assay, and whereby a kidney, a pancreas, thymus or hair can be newly produced.

The present invention relates to the field of seizures. More specifically, the present invention provides compositions and methods for treating refractory seizures in neonates. In one embodiment, the method comprises the steps of (a) administering to the patient an amount of a KCC2 agonist and/or trkB antagonist effective to restore KCC2 expression to normal physiological levels; and (b) administering to the patient an effective amount of an anti-seizure medication.

Disclosed herein are conditioning regimens and methods for inducing MHC- or HLA-mismatched mixed chimerism by conditioning a recipient with radiation-free, low-doses of cyclophosphamide (CY), pentostatin (PT), and anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) prior to transplantation of donor bone marrow cells. In certain embodiments, the donor bone marrow cells may be CD4+ T-depleted bone marrow cells. The conditioning regimens and methods may also include administering one or more populations of conditioning donor cells selected from donor CD4.sup.+ T-depleted spleen cells, donor CD8.sup.+ T cells, and donor G-CSF-mobilized peripheral blood mononuclear cells. The conditioning regimen is clinically acceptable and can be used for treating hereditary hematological diseases and autoimmune diseases, as well as for promoting organ transplantation immune tolerance.

Provided is a method for producing an animal model of osteoblastic bone metastasis. A non-human animal in which an osteoblastic lesion is formed in a wide range has been successfully produced with a probability of 100% by: administering a calcineurin inhibitor to a non-human animal; and injecting a tumor cell into an artery or a vein of the non-human animal, wherein the non-human animal and the tumor cell are in an allogeneic or xenogeneic relation.

A method of preparing a mouse model of herpes using a herpes simplex virus and hydrocortisone, and a mouse model of herpes prepared the method are disclosed. When the preparation method is used, an animal model in which the symptoms of herpes clearly appear can be prepared, and thus the animal model can be widely used in the development of therapeutic agents for herpes simplex virus infection. A use of the mouse model in screening and developing a candidate therapeutic agent is also disclosed.