Tumor invasion and metastasis is accompanied by significant activations of specific proteolysis enzymes. Tumor area is known to have increased infiltration of immunoglobulins G (“IgG”), so IgG may undergo proteolysis in this area. Serine proteases usually cleave peptide bonds between positively charged amino acids lysine and arginine. Since the intact PLG molecules as well as its fragments have lysine binding sites, they can bind to damaged IgG or fragments thereof with free C-terminal lysine that can appear in a circulation after proteolysis in the malignant tumor area. In the present invention we demonstrated the increased binding of damaged IgG or fragments thereof with free C-terminal lysine to fragments of PLG in samples from patients with breast cancer, ovarian cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer vs. samples from healthy donors, and thus we proposed a novel diagnostic method.

Methods and products for diagnosing, treating and/or delaying onset of chronic allograft rejection, including cardiac allograft vasculopathy. In an exemplary embodiment of a noninvasive method of screening a cardiac allograft recipient for being at-risk for developing cardiac allograft vasculopathy of the present disclosure, the method comprises the steps of withdrawing at least one biological sample from a cardiac allograft recipient; and analyzing the at least one biological sample for one or more biomarkers indicative of the presence of fibrin deposits within the cardiac allograft microvasculature; wherein detection of the one or more biomarkers indicates that the cardiac allograft recipient is at-risk for or developing cardiac allograft vasculopathy.

Methods and products for diagnosing, treating and/or delaying onset of chronic allograft rejection, including cardiac allograft vasculopathy. In an exemplary embodiment of a noninvasive method of screening a cardiac allograft recipient for being at-risk for developing cardiac allograft vasculopathy of the present disclosure, the method comprises the steps of withdrawing at least one biological sample from a cardiac allograft recipient; and analyzing the at least one biological sample for one or more biomarkers indicative of the presence of fibrin deposits within the cardiac allograft microvasculature; wherein detection of the one or more biomarkers indicates that the cardiac allograft recipient is at-risk for or developing cardiac allograft vasculopathy.

The purpose of the present invention is to develop a method for screening drugs having the effect of increasing skin barrier function in in vitro studies and to evaluate barrier function in the skin. Candidate drugs can be screened by using the activity and/or expression level of serine racemase as an indicator.

This document relates to materials and methods for identifying and monitoring immunoglobulin cleavage (e.g., IgG cleavage) in a sample, such as a biological sample, using mass spectrometry techniques.

The purpose of the present invention is to develop a method for screening drugs having the effect of increasing skin barrier function in in vitro studies and to evaluate barrier function in the skin. Candidate drugs can be screened by using the activity and/or expression level of serine racemase as an indicator.

Coagulation and fibrinolysis assays and related compositions, systems, methods, and kits are provided. In some embodiments, a coagulation and fibrinolysis assay may utilize one or more biological molecules. For instance, the assay may comprise combining a blood or blood-derived patient sample with the biological molecule(s) and measuring one or more properties of the sample associated with coagulation and/or fibrinolysis. The biological molecules may serve to shorten the assay duration and/or enhance the sensitivity of the assay relative to certain conventional assays. In certain embodiments, the biological molecules may allow pathological coagulation and/or fibrinolysis phenotypes to be elucidated. The coagulation and fibrinolysis assays described herein may be used for a wide variety of clinical and/or laboratory applications, including the diagnosis of certain coagulation and/or fibrinolysis disorders, such as trauma-induced coagulopathy and hyperfibrinolysis.

Tumor invasion and metastasis is accompanied by significant activations of specific proteolysis enzymes. Tumor area is known to have increased infiltration of immunoglobulins G (IgG), so IgG may undergo proteolysis in this area. Serine proteases usually cleave peptide bonds between positively charged amino acids lysine and arginine. Since the intact PLG molecules as well as its fragments have lysine binding sites, they can bind to damaged IgG or fragments thereof with free C-terminal lysine that can appear in a circulation after proteolysis in the malignant tumor area. In the present invention we demonstrated the increased binding of damaged IgG or fragments thereof with free C-terminal lysine to fragments of PLG in samples from patients with breast cancer, ovarian cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer vs. samples from healthy donors, and thus we proposed a novel diagnostic method.

The purpose of the present invention is to develop a method for screening drugs having the effect of increasing skin barrier function in in vitro studies and to evaluate barrier function in the skin. Candidate drugs can be screened by using the activity and/or expression level of serine racemase as an indicator.

This invention describes a new analytical method to determine the quantity and distribution of fucose per Fc within an antibody preparation.