Disclosed are methods for treating neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease (PD) using glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) and identifying PD patients that will be most receptive to the method of treating PD. In one aspect, the disclosure provides a method of treating PD in a subject in need thereof, the method comprising: (a) identifying a subject having less than about 10 hours, and preferably less than about 8 hours, of on-time per day; and (b) administering to the subject a composition comprising a therapeutically effective amount of one or more vectors to the subthalamic nucleus of the patient, wherein each vector comprises a nucleic acid sequence encoding glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) and wherein the subject's on-time is increased.

The present invention provides a therapy for treating neuropathic pain by subpial administration of small quantities of a composition for spinal segment-specific upregulation of GAD65 (glutamatedecarboxylase) gene and VGAT (vesicular GABA transporter) gene, which is effective for induction of nociceptive effects by potentiating release of vesicular GABA from infected dorsal horn neurons into the synaptic cleft.

The invention relates to methods of leavening a batter or dough of a bakery product comprising the steps of: providing a batter or dough comprising an isolated glutamate decarboxylase enzyme or an isolated aspartate decarboxylase enzyme and respectively glutamic acid or a salt thereof or aspartic acid or a salt thereof in a concentration of at least 0.005 mole glutamic acid/kg dough or batter, wherein the batter or dough does not contain added yeast or sourdough bacteria.

A composition useful for alleviating or treating pain and uses thereof are disclosed. The composition containing glutamate decarboxylase and a gene coding for an anti-inflammatory cytokine. A method for alleviating or treating pain of a subject includes administering the composition to the subject.

The present invention provides a therapy for treating loss of GABA-mediated pre-synaptic inhibition after spinal injury. The therapeutic regimen includes spinal segment-specific upregulation of GAD65 (glutamate decarboxylase) and VGAT (vesicular GABA transporter) to modulate chronic spasticity in patients after spinal traumatic or ischemic injury.

Disclosed are effective, specific, and durable pain management therapies using Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR-based) epigenetic modulation of endogenous pathways involved in pain.

The present invention provides a method and a pharmaceutical composition for the treatment of the NDO comprising the viral expression vector carrying a transcription cassette that harbors transgene(s) inhibiting/silencing neurotransmission or synaptic transmission of afferent neurons.

The present disclosure relates to methods of treating at least one symptom of a mental disorder or disease of the central nervous system in a subject by modulating the amount of GABA produced in the subject's gut. The present disclosure also relates to methods of culturing the bacterial strain new bacterial strains. Also disclosed are methods of identifying bacterial strains capable of producing GABA, and engineering strains to produce GABA.

This disclosure provides a number of sequences involved in nitrogen utilization, methods of using such sequences, tobacco plants carrying modifications to such sequences, tobacco plants transgenic for such sequences, and tobacco products made from such plants.

The present invention provides novel peptides and homologues thereof. The peptides of the invention comprise (i) a T-cell epitope of an antigen (self or non-self) with a potential to trigger an immune reaction presented by a class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC) determinant and recognised by CD4+ T cell more specifically of an allergen or auto-antigen, coupled, optionally through the use of a linker to (ii) an amino acid sequence having a reducing activity, such as a thioreductase sequence. The peptides of the invention have been shown to be useful a medicine, more in particular for the prevention or treatment of immune disorders, more specifically of allergic disorders or autoimmune diseases. The present invention thus provides for the use of said peptides for the manufacture of a medicament for the prevention or treatment of an immune disorder and further provides for methods of treatment or preventing immune disorders by using said peptides. The present invention also provides for compositions comprising said peptides.