The invention is concerned with a fusion protein comprising interleukin 13 and a regulatory cytokine, for example, an interleukin chosen from interleukin 4, interleukin 10, interleukin 27, interleukin 33, transforming growth factor beta 1, transforming growth factor beta 2, and interleukin 13, a nucleic acid molecule encoding such fusion protein, a vector comprising such nucleic acid molecule, and a host cell comprising such nucleic acid molecule or such vector. The invention further pertains to a method for producing such fusion protein. The fusion protein or a gene therapy vector encoding the fusion protein may be used in the prevention or treatment of a condition characterized by pathological pain, chronic pain, neuro-inflammation and/or or neurodegeneration.

The invention relates to a sex determination (SD) marker of a male Mugilidae fish comprising a nucleic acid sequence corresponding to a sequence of a Follicle-stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) gene of said fish and including at least one male (Y) specific nucleotide difference when compared to a corresponding sequence on a FSHR gene of a female Mugilidae fish. The invention further concerns uses of this sex determination marker in methods of early sex determination in a Mugilidae fish, methods of sex-reversal of a Mugilidae fish prior to appearance of a sex phenotype, and methods for producing a mono-sex population of Mugilidae fishes.

The present invention provides a porous hollow fiber membrane and methods of using the membrane to select an immune checkpoint inhibitor. The membrane can be used in animal models with an immune system and using low-cost common mouse. The host immune system is unable to attack the cancer cells within the membrane and animal study proves that the membrane system can be performed within animals.

The present invention provides methods for generating a mouse model that produces anti-polyethylene glycol (PEG) antibodies. Also provided are mice generated by said methods and methods of using these mice to screen PEG-containing products in vivo.

Described are alcohol-induced liver cancer model mice, methods of generating the alcohol-induced liver cancer model mice, and methods of using the alcohol-induced liver cancer model mice. Methods of treating alcoholic liver disease, including hepatocellular carcinoma, are also described.

The present invention relates to a composition for preventing or treating Parkinson's disease comprising AEG-1 (S298D) as an active ingredient, and in the present invention, a point mutation was introduced into AEG-1 to induce a constitutively active form of AEG-1 (S298D), to construct AAV-AEG-1 (S298D), and to apply an animal model for Parkinson's disease, and accordingly, it was confirmed that it exhibits a protective effect on brain tissue by preserving dopaminergic neurons and dopamine nerve fibers and thus AEG-1 is useful as a composition for preventing or treating Parkinson's disease, a health food composition for preventing or improving Parkinson's disease, etc.

Methods of treating a subject for a neurodegenerative disorder are provided. Aspects of the methods include administering to a subject in need thereof an effective amount of an agent that reduces the prevalence of lipid droplet accumulating microglia (LAM) to treat the subject for the neurodegenerative disorder. A variety of neurodegenerative disorders may be treated by practice of the methods. Also provided are methods of identifying lipid droplet-associated target genes, including target genes that are positive and negative regulators of lipid droplet formation, as well as methods of treating a neurodegenerative disorder in a subject by administering to the subject an antagonist of a positive regulator of lipid droplet formation and/or an agonist of a negative regulator of lipid droplet formation.

Fish embryos may be successfully vaccinated or therapeutically treated if the therapeutic agent is injected into the yolk sac. Therapeutic agents may be directly injected or released from microspheres and enter the circulation and tissues. Injection into the yolk sac, combined with the use of carriers, allows for a continued, controlled release of therapeutic agents and processing of antigens. Fish vaccination or therapeutic treatment, selecting fish embryos post fertilization at the one-cell to eyed egg stage of development, and injecting the yolk sac with carriers associated with an antigen(s) or therapeutic agent(s), may be fully automated.

The invention is directed to nucleic acid therapy for modulating host microflora, useful in the management of dysbiosis. The invention in embodiments thereof provides compositions and methods for alleviating dysbiosis and conditions associated therewith. According to additional embodiments, compositions and methods of the invention may be used for treating or preventing gut barrier dysfunction in a subject in need thereof, and for reducing the risk of developing adverse events related to expansion of gastrointestinal bacteria in patients at risk for developing dysbiosis, for example in hospitalized patients and immune suppressed subjects.

The present invention relates to a method for producing animal models of cerebrovascular disease, comprising ligation of the common carotid artery (CCA) and administration of a nitric oxide (NO) inhibitor, animal models of cerebrovascular disease produced thereby, and a method for producing animals having small individual differences in susceptibility to the onset of cerebrovascular disease by using the same. The method for producing animal models of cerebrovascular disease according to the present invention can overcome the conventional problems of complexity and low yield. Particularly, the production method of the present invention can produce animal models of cerebrovascular disease with a high yield by a simple method. Moreover, the animal models produced by the production method may be used in studies to verify the effectiveness and safety of substances for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of cerebrovascular disease or methods for treatment of cerebrovascular disease, and make it possible to study genes that cause differences in the level of cerebrovascular disease between the animal models. In addition, it is possible to provide offspring animals having uniform susceptibility to the onset of cerebrovascular disease by mating the animal models having similar susceptibilities to the onset of cerebrovascular disease according to the present invention.