The present invention relates to novel antibodies and fragments that bind to a V-domain Ig Suppressor of T cell Activation (VISTA), and methods of making and using same. Methods of use include methods of treatment of cancer, including leukemias, lymphomas, solid tumors and melanomas.

The description provides compositions and methods for treating ETBR-related cancer. In certain aspects, the description provides a delivery system for the controlled, systemic release of at least one of ETBR antagonists, caspase-8 inhibitors, or a combination thereof, optionally including an ETAR antagonist, an anti-PD-1 antibody, a bRAF inhibitor, niacinamide or a combination thereof. The compositions described are useful for the treatment of certain cancers, including, e.g., breast cancer, malignant melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma, glioblastoma, as well as others. In addition, the description provides a delivery system for the controlled release of at least one of ETBR antagonists, caspase-8 inhibitors or a combination thereof, optionally including at least one of an ETAR antagonist, an anti-PD-1 antibody, a bRAF inhibitor, niacinamide, or a combination thereof, to the central nervous system that are useful for treating cancers that have spread to the brain.

An assay measuring protease mediated degradation of type IV collagen and its biomarker potential for identifying cancer patients with a T-cell permissive tumor microenvironment is described.

Described herein are novel anti-PD1 antibody reagents (e.g., antibodies, antigen-binding fragments thereof, and/or chimeric antigen receptors). Also described herein antibody-drug conjugates or kits comprising the disclosed antibody reagents, as well as methods of treating cancer by administering the disclosed antibody reagents.

The present invention relates to a method for determining or predicting the response of a patient diagnosed with melanoma to targeted pharmacotherapy. The present invention also aims to provide methods and devices for predicting the response of patients diagnosed with melanoma to specific medicaments. More specifically, the present invention provides methods which measure kinase and/or phosphatase activity by studying phosphorylation levels and profiles and inhibitions thereof by drugs in samples, preferably blood samples, of said patients.

Provided herein are methods and systems of molecular profiling of diseases, such as cancer. In some embodiments, the molecular profiling can be used to identify treatments for a disease, such as treatments that were not initially identified as a treatment for the disease or not expected to be a treatment for a particular disease.

Methods for inducing basal cell carcinoma (BCC) or BCC tumors, as well as an inducible non-human animal models of BCC, are defined herein. The methods and animal models comprise targeting Ptch1 and/or a tumor suppressor gene via conditional expression of one or more short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) in the skin of said animals.

Provided is a technique of predicting prognosis of skin cancer. A method for prognosis prediction of skin cancer includes: a step of obtaining a correlation amount correlated with an expression level of a glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase in a sample collected from a patient with the skin cancer; and a step of determining that the prognosis of the skin cancer is poorer when the correlation amount is large than that when the correlation amount is small.

Provided is a technique of predicting prognosis of skin cancer. A method for prognosis prediction of skin cancer includes: a step of obtaining a correlation amount correlated with an expression level of a glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase in a sample collected from a patient with the skin cancer; and a step of determining that the prognosis of the skin cancer is poorer when the correlation amount is large than that when the correlation amount is small.

Disclosed herein is a method for enhancing antitumor T cell responses in subjects. The method involves administering to the subject in need thereof a composition comprising a demethylating agent in an amount effective to demethylate STING proteins in the tumor cells. This method is particularly useful in subjects with deficient STING expression in the tumor cells. Therefore, also disclosed is a method for treating a tumor in a subject that involves detecting in a biopsy sample from the subject reduced STING expression, reduced cGAS expression, or a combination thereof; and then administering to the subject a demethylating agent in an amount effective to demethylate STING proteins in the tumor cells. The method can further involve administering to the subject a therapeutically effective amount of a STING agonist. The method can further involve administering to the subject tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), such as HLA-matched TILs.