The invention relates to MIC-1 compounds. More specifically it relates to compounds comprising a MIC-1 polypeptide and an N-terminal amino acid extension, wherein said extension consists of 3 to 36 amino acid residues and where the compound has a calculated pI lower than 6.5. The compounds of the invention have MIC-1 activity. The invention also relates to pharmaceutical compositions comprising such compounds and pharmaceutically acceptable excipients, as well as the medical use of the compounds.

The present application relates to the fields of genetics, gene therapy, and molecular biology. More specifically, the present invention relates to an isolated codon-optimized nucleic acid that encodes the SMN1 protein (survival motor neuron protein), an expression cassette and a vector based thereon, as well as an AAV9 (adeno-associated virus serotype 9)-based recombinant virus for increasing the expression of the SMN1 gene in target cells, and use thereof.

Described herein are methods and compositions for treating asthma or an allergic disease. Aspects of the invention relate to administering to a subject an agent that targets the Wnt or Hippo Signaling pathway, or Growth-differentiation factor 15 (GDF15), either alone or in combination. In certain embodiments, the subject is further administered a Notch4 inhibitor.

The present invention relates to a product comprising (i) an anti-VEGF entity; and (ii) a negative complement regulator, or nucleotide sequences encoding therefor, as a combined preparation for simultaneous, separate or sequential use in therapy. In particular, the anti-VEGF entity is an anti-VEGF antibody, preferably aflibercept and the negative complement regulator is Complement Factor I (CFI) or Complement Factor H Like Protein 1 (FHL1). The main uses are for the treatment of eye diseases, in particular age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

The present disclosure relates to development of a eukaryotic cell expression vector satisfying optimized conditions for gene therapies and DNA vaccines. As a result of replacing the full HCMV regulatory and transcribed region including the immediate early (IE) gene intron A of the HCMV Towne strain and the same region of various HCMV strains at the pVAX1 promoter region and comparing the difference in gene expression efficiency for the different HCMV strains, the eukaryotic cell expression vector of the present disclosure could increase the expression of various genes by about 50-150% as compared to the HCMV Towne strain. Through this, pHP3 was developed as a vector exhibiting high expression in eukaryotic cells, and it can be usefully used for gene therapies or DNA vaccines.

Provided herein are compositions, systems, kits, and methods for treating a subject, and/or a subject's pre-adipocytes and/or adipocytes, with a composition containing a nucleic acid sequence encoding a protein or other biologically active nucleic acid-encoded molecule (BANEM), or a vector containing the nucleic acid sequence, wherein the treating comprises: a) injecting the composition into one or more subcutaneous (SC) regions of the subject such that one or more protein, or other BANEM, is detectable in a blood, serum, or plasma sample from the subject; and/or b) injecting the composition into one or more SC regions of the subject such that in-vivo transfected pre-adipocytes and/or adipocytes (e.g., transfected cells of fat cell origin) are generated; and/or c) performing the following: i) contacting pre-adipocytes and/or adipocytes (e.g., cells of fat cell origin) from the subject ex-vivo with the composition such that ex-vivo transfected pre-adipocytes and/or adipocytes are generated, and ii) injecting the ex-vivo transfected pre-adipocytes and/or adipocytes into one or more SC regions of the subject.

The present application provides methods and processes for making and using a fibronectin composition, as well as methods for treating ocular conditions and/or disorders with the cellular fibronectin composition described herein.

The invention discloses a fusion protein, a preparation method thereof and application thereof in preparing ophthalmic disease treatment, anti-inflammation and anti-tumor medicament, and belongs to the field of biopharmaceutical technology. The present invention uses a flexible (F) or rigid (R) linker to fuse two polypeptides to respectively obtain two bifunctional fusion proteins, namely two multi-functional fusion protein macromolecules obtained by linking antiangiogenesis polypeptides HM-3, interleukin 4 and immunoglobulin Fc fragments via an amino acid linker, which can improve drug efficacy, prolong half-life and enhance stability, has the characteristics of strong effect, low toxicity and the like, and can be used for the prevention and treatment of solid tumors and various types of inflammations and neovascular ophthalmic diseases. The fusion protein is expressed in a eukaryotic cell by a genetic engineering method and purified by affinity chromatography or the like.

The invention discloses a fusion protein, a preparation method thereof and application thereof in preparing ophthalmic disease treatment, anti-inflammation and anti-tumor medicament, and belongs to the field of biopharmaceutical technology. The present invention uses a flexible (F) or rigid (R) linker to fuse two polypeptides to respectively obtain two bifunctional fusion proteins, namely two multi-functional fusion protein macromolecules obtained by linking antiangiogenesis polypeptides HM-3, interleukin 4 and immunoglobulin Fc fragments via an amino acid linker, which can improve drug efficacy, prolong half-life and enhance stability, has the characteristics of strong effect, low toxicity and the like, and can be used for the prevention and treatment of solid tumors and various types of inflammations and neovascular ophthalmic diseases. The fusion protein is expressed in a eukaryotic cell by a genetic engineering method and purified by affinity chromatography or the like.

The present disclosure provides expression constructs designed to provide for stable and/or inducible, tightly controlled production of genetically encoded payloads from engineered cells. These cassettes allow cells to be engineered to express genetically encoded payloads despite epigenetic silencing. As such, provided herein are expression systems for use in methods to engineer cells using CRISPR dCas9-activator systems such that expression of genetically encoded payloads (e.g., therapeutic proteins) can be optimized to overcome epigenetic silencing. In addition, provided herein are engineered cells comprising the expression systems.