There is provided a mutant KLF protein that can induce reprogramming of a somatic cell at a higher efficiency than a KLF protein having a natural amino acid sequence. There is also provided a method for efficiently producing an iPS cell by using the mutant KLF protein. There is provided a mutant KLF protein having an amino acid substitution, or a peptide fragment thereof containing the amino acid substitution.

Provided is a host factor specific for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. The specific host factor CREBH can remarkably enhance HBV infection. The specific host factor can, on the one hand, enhance entry of HBV, and on the other hand, enhance transcription of HBV to some extent. In the CREBH regulatory pathway there is a specific host factor SCARF2. During HBV infection, an N-terminus EGF-like domain of SCARF2 plays a crucial role in the infection and entry of HBV. The two correlated specific host factors provide a new target for inhibiting HBV infection.

Described herein are peptides and variants and mutants thereof capable of interacting with TEAD, disrupting the HIPPO pathway, or modulating the activity or function of TEAD interactions in a cell. Pharmaceutical compositions and uses of peptides, as well as methods of designing and manufacturing such peptides, to treat cancer, tumor, or any other disease/condition associated with a dysregulated HIPPO pathway or uncontrolled cell growth are also described herein.

The present invention relates to methods for treating and/or preventing tumors and/or promoting apoptosis in a neoplastic cell comprising contacting the neoplastic cell with an cell-penetrating dominant-negative ATF5 (“CP-d/n-ATF5”), wherein the CP-d/n-ATF5 is capable of inhibiting ATF5 function and/or activity.

The invention provides peptides and analogs of INGAP and HIP peptides. The peptides and analogs can be used in methods for treating various diseases and conditions. Such diseases and conditions can include impaired pancreatic function, treating a metabolic disease, for example, diabetes, both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, islets induction, expansion and proliferation for trans plantation, promoting neuroprotection or nerve regeneration, promoting liver regeneration or inhibiting inflammation.

A compound and method for treating cancer, in particular prostate cancer. Id4 reverts mutant p53 activity to its wild type physiological status and activity. Id4 or its peptidemimatics are used to revert mutant p53 to wild type p53, restoring its tumor suppressor activity.

Aspects of the disclosure relate to compositions and methods of treating certain genetic disease (e.g., Neurofibromatosis type I) by delivering functional neurofibromin 1(NF1) protein (e.g., mini-NF1 protein and/or full-length NF1 protein) to target cell (e.g., cells and/or tissue of a subject). The disclosure is based, in part, on isolated nucleic acids (e.g., rAAV vectors) and rAAVs engineered to express a functional NF1 protein (e.g., mini-NF1 protein and/or full-length NF1 protein) or variants thereof.

The invention relates to compositions including polynucleotides encoding polypeptides which have been chemically modified by replacing the uridines with 1-methyl-pseudouridine to improve one or more of the stability and/or clearance in tissues, receptor uptake and/or kinetics, cellular access by the compositions, engagement with translational machinery, mRNA half-life, translation efficiency, immune evasion, protein production capacity, secretion efficiency, accessibility to circulation, protein half-life and/or modulation of a cell's status, function, and/or activity.

The present invention relates to peptides, proteins, nucleic acids and cells for use in immunotherapeutic methods. In particular, the present invention relates to the immunotherapy of cancer. The present invention furthermore relates to tumor-associated T-cell peptide epitopes, alone or in combination with other tumor-associated peptides that can for example serve as active pharmaceutical ingredients of vaccine compositions that stimulate anti-tumor immune responses, or to stimulate T cells ex vivo and transfer into patients. Peptides bound to molecules of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), or peptides as such, can also be targets of antibodies, soluble T-cell receptors, and other binding molecules.

A novel class of fusion proteins to recruit a cell's innate chaperone mechanism, specifically the Hsp70-mediated system, to specifically reduce polyglutamine-mediated protein aggregation is disclosed.