Genetically engineered bacteria, pharmaceutical compositions thereof, and methods of treating or preventing autoimmune disorders, inhibiting inflammatory mechanisms in the gut, and/or tightening gut mucosal barrier function are disclosed.

The present invention relates to a Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain that produces superoxide dismutase (SOD), and also relates to an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory pharmaceutical composition and a pharmaceutical composition and food composition for preventing or treating hyperlipidemia, which include a superoxide dismutase produced by the Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain. The compositions of the present invention exhibit excellent effects without causing side effects, and may thus be used as functional raw materials or products having an enhanced activity of preventing or treating inflammation, cancer or hyperlipidemia in the pharmaceutical drug, food, cosmetic and livestock fields.

A method and system to identify an epitope unique to a misfolded form of a protein is provided. Sets of one or more amino acid residues are selected from a model representing the structure of the protein; the free energy of unfolding of each set is determined; and the epitope is identified from the sets having a total probability of unfolding above a minimum probability or a free energy of unfolding below a minimum energy. In other aspects, the invention provides for the use of epitopes identified by the epitope prediction methods, and related antibodies, to diagnose and treat disease and to screen samples for the presence of such epitopes.

The invention provides topical compositions and methods for using the compositions. The compositions can be used for the treatment of fibrotic or connective tissue disorders involving scarring, sub-dermal plaque accumulations, or fibrosis of muscle tissue. The disorders can be painlessly treated by the topical application of a composition described herein. One or more calcium channel blocker agents can serve as an active ingredient of the compositions, optionally in combination with, for example, one or more of emu oil and superoxide dismutase. The composition can further include pharmaceutically acceptable carriers that can facilitate the non-invasive transdermal delivery of the active(s) to subdermal sites.

Provided are modified virus-like particles (VLPs) of paramyxoviruses, compositions containing them, methods of using the VLPs for delivery of any particular protein of interest to any of a variety of cells, kits that contain expression vectors for making, using and detecting VLPs, and methods for screening for anti-viral compounds using the VLPs. The modified VLPs contain a contiguous recombinant polypeptide that contains i) all or a segment of a C-terminal domain of a paramyxovirus nucleocapsid protein and ii) a polypeptide sequence of a distinct protein. Non-covalent complexes of paramyxovirus M protein and fusion proteins that contain a C-terminal domain of a paramyxovirus nucleocapsid protein and a polypeptide sequence of a distinct protein are provided, as are non-covalent complexes of cells, and cell receptors, with modified VLPs.

An oral product comprising nano-sized, heat tolerable, shelf stable peptides and enzymes. Once the peptides and enzymes are inside the body of a user, they dimerize the nucleic acids of viruses, bacteria and fungi. Thus, the peptides and enzymes are capable of inactivating the genome of pathogens, including without limitation, SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza A/CA/04/2009 (H1N1) virus.

The present disclosure relates to methods of modulating level of pathogenic E. coli (EHEC, EPEC, APEC) present in the gastrointestinal tract of an animal by administering saccharide compositions comprising an anhydro moiety. The presence/load with pathogenic E. coli strains can be assessed via the level of LEE and non-LEE pathogenic genes in the microbiome of the host animal.

The present disclosure relates to methods of modulating level of E. coli present in the gastrointestinal tract of an animal. Such modulation includes, for example, modulating the level of LEE and non-LEE pathogenic genes in the microbiome of the host animal. The present disclosure further relates to methods of modulating the virulence of pathogenic E. coli in the gastrointestinal tract of an animal by reducing the population of B. thetaiotaomicron in the gut microbiome of the animal.

The present disclosure provides materials and methods for treating a patient with one or more conditions associated with SOD1 whether ex vivo or in vivo. In addition, the present disclosure provides materials and methods for editing and/or modulating the expression of SOD1 gene in a cell by genome editing.

The invention relates to inhibitory nucleic acids and rAAV-based compositions, methods and kits useful for treating Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.