A method for establishing an animal model of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) bone metastasis, the method including: 1) establishing 97H and LM3 cell clones with stable expression of firefly luciferase (LUC); 2) allowing HCC cells to form bone metastasis in nude mice via intratibial injection; 3) reproducing HCC bone metastasis in nude mice via intracardiac injection of tumor cells; and 4) isolating a sub-population of tumor cells that targets metastasis to bone. The 97H and the LM3 are highly metastatic HCC cell lines transfected with luciferase gene. BALB/cA-nu mice are 4-5 weeks old and maintained in laminar flow cabinets under SPF conditions and received human care throughout an entire study. A cell number for intratibial injection is 0.5×10.sup.6, and a cell number for intracardiac injection is 1×10.sup.6.

An aspect of the present disclosure is a microbial cell that includes a genetic modification resulting in the expression of a deficient form of an endogenous dioxygenase, and a gene encoding an exogenous dioxygenase and a promoter sequence, where the endogenous dioxygenase includes PcaH and PcaG, the exogenous dioxygenase includes LigA and LigB, the microbial cell is capable of growth utilizing at least one of a cellulose decomposition molecule or a lignin decomposition molecule, and the microbial cell is capable of producing 2-hydroxy-2H-pyran-4,6-dicarboxylic acid.

The invention provides specific transgenic soybean plants, plant material and seeds, characterized in that these products harbor a specific nematode resistance and herbicide tolerance transformation event at a specific location in the soybean genome. Tools are also provided which allow rapid and unequivocal identification of the event in biological samples.

The invention relates to the nucleotide and amino acid sequences, and to the activity and use, of the luciferases LuAL, Lu164, Lu16, Lu39, Lu45, Lu52 and Lu22.

The present invention relates to nanoparticles comprising nucleic acids coated with a (biodegradable) polymer for reversible immobilization and/or controlled release of the nucleic acid comprising nanoparticles. Furthermore, the present invention is directed to medical or diagnostic devices, particularly stents and implants coated by a (biodegradable) polymer with the nucleic acid comprising nanoparticles for reversible immobilization and/or controlled release. Furthermore, the present invention is directed to the use of these nanoparticles coated with a (biodegradable) polymer and to the use of medical devices and implants coated by the (biodegradable) polymer with these nucleic acid comprising nanoparticles in the prophylactic or therapeutic treatment of diseases, particularly in the prevention or treatment of restenosis, calicification, foreign body reaction, or inflammation. Additionally, the present invention is directed to a method of preparing these nucleic acid comprising nanoparticles coated with a (biodegradable) polymer and to a method for coating nucleic acid comprising nanoparticles by a (biodegradable) polymer on medical or diagnostic devices.

The invention relates to prophylaxis and therapy of cancer. In particular there is provided a protein Tryptophan2,3-di-oxygenase (TDO) or peptide fragments here of that are capable of eliciting anti-cancer immune responses. Specifically, the invention relates to the use of TDO or peptides derived thereof or TDO specific T-cells for treatment of cancer. The invention thus relates to an anti-cancer vaccine which optionally may be used in combination with other immunotherapies and to TDO specific T-cells adoptively transferred or induced in vivo by vaccination as a treatment of cancer. It is an aspect of the invention that the medicaments herein provided may be used in combination with cancer chemotherapy treatment. A further aspect relates to the prophylaxis and therapy of infections by the same means as described above.

A target protein is prepared as soluble protein using a recombinant protein expression system. An expression vector is used that includes (1) an expression-inducible promoter sequence; (2) a first coding sequence including a polynucleotide coding for a polypeptide that is represented by the formula (Z).sub.n; and (3) a second coding sequence that includes a polynucleotide that codes for a target protein. A method of producing the target protein is also used that includes expressing protein using this expression vector.

Aspects of the present disclosure are drawn to methods of improving the expression of secreted cuproenzymes from host cells by manipulating the expression level of one or more proteins involved in copper transport in the host cell, e.g., membrane-bound copper transporting ATPases and soluble copper transporters. The present disclosure also provides compositions containing such improved host cells as well as products derived from the improved host cells that contain one or more cuproenzymes of interest.

Resonance energy transfer (RET)- or protein-fragment complement assay (PCA)-based biosensors useful for assessing the activity of G-proteins are described. These biosensors are based on the competition between the Got subunit and a Gβγ interacting protein (βγ IP) for the binding to the Gβγ dimer. These biosensors comprises (1) a βγ IP and (2) a Gβ or Gγ protein; a GPCR; or a plasma membrane targeting domain, fused to suitable RET or PCA tags. Methods using such biosensors for different applications, including the identification of agents that modulates G-protein activity or for the characterization of GPCR signaling/regulation, such as G-protein preferences and activation profiles of GPCRs, are also described.

Disclosed herein are neuronal cell activity reporter systems including a Secreted Neuronal Activity Reporter (SNAR) construct and a control construct. The SNAR construct includes four tandem repeats of a core domain of the Synaptic Activity Response Element (SARE) of Arc/Arg3.1, a polynucleotide comprising the Arc minimal promoter, and a polynucleotide encoding a first secreted reporter protein. The control construct includes a constitutive promoter and a polynucleotide encoding a second secreted reporter protein. Further provided are methods of monitoring neuronal activity in a cell. The methods may include administering to a cell the neuronal cell activity reporter system, contacting with a substrate, and measuring a signal.