Agy Therapeutics, Inc.

Medarex Inc.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Arrowhead Madison, Inc.

Daniel J Chin

Thorsten Melcher

Mirella Gonzalez-Zulueta

Sabine Mueller

Markus Hossbach

Matthias John

Jochen Deckert

Erik Damien Foehr

Donna Hendrix

Li Gan

Richa Wilson

Tadeusz Wieloch

Kalev Kask

Oliver Zhao

Joseph Murray

Kristin Anton

Mehrdad Shamloo

Kc McFarland

The invention relates to a double-stranded ribonucleic acid (dsRNA) for inhibiting the expression of a Hepatitis B Virus gene. The invention also relates to a pharmaceutical composition comprising the dsRNA or nucleic acid molecules or vectors encoding the same together with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier; methods for treating diseases caused by Hepatitis B Virus infection using said pharmaceutical composition; and methods for inhibiting the expression of a Hepatitis B Virus gene in a cell.

Compositions and methods for inhibiting gene expression of hepatitis B virus

The present invention relates to the use of a protein that is differentially expressed in primary brain tumor tissues, as compared to normal brain tissues, as a biomolecular target for tumor treatment therapies. The protein is also expressed in tissues from adenocarcinoma, non-melanoma, and renal carcinoma cells. Immunotherapeutic and immunoimaging agents that specifically bind to an identified brain tumor target protein are provided. The present invention also provides compounds and pharmaceutically acceptable compositions for administration in the methods of the invention.

Use of biomolecular targets in the treatment and visualization of tumors

The present invention relates to the use of proteins which are differentially expressed in primary brain tumor tissues, as compared to normal brain tissues, as biomolecular targets for brain tumor treatment therapies. Specifically, the present invention relates to the use of immunotherapeutic and immunoimaging agents which specifically bind to one or more of human proteins angiopoietin related protein 2 (ARP-2,) secreted protein acidic, rich in cysteine (SPARC,) c-met proto-oncogene (C-MET,) brevican (BEHAB,) CD-44 antigen (CD-44,) tetraspanin 3 (TSPN3,) pleiotrophin (PTN,) osteopontin (OPN,) vasoactive intestinal peptide receptor-2 (VIPR-2,) and receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase zeta (PTP&#x3b6;) for the treatment and visualization of brain tumors in patients. The present invention also provides compounds and pharmaceutically acceptable compositions for administration in the methods of the invention. The present invention also provides novel splice variants of protein PTP&#x3b6;, PTP&#x3b6; SM1 and PTP&#x3b6; SM2. Nucleic acid probes specific for the spliced mRNA encoding these variants and affinity reagents specific for the novel proteins are also provided.

Use of protein biomolecular targets in the treatment and visualization of brain tumors

The present invention relates to the use of proteins that are differentially expressed in primary brain tumor tissues, as compared to normal brain tissues, as biomolecular targets for brain tumor treatment therapies. Specifically, the present invention relates to the use of immunotherapeutic and immunoimaging agents, which specifically bind to one or more of the identified brain tumor protein targets. The present invention also provides compounds and pharmaceutically acceptable compositions for administration in the methods of the invention. Nucleic acid probes specific for the spliced mRNA encoding these variants and affinity reagents specific for the novel proteins are also provided.

Use of biomolecular targets in the treatment and visualization of brain tumors

There is a pressing need for computer-implemented tools that can summarize and present the enormous amounts of public literature to facilitate analysis of gene expression data. The present invention provides techniques and systems for efficiently integrating public literature regarding gene function with data from gene expression profiling experiments. Information from literature databases relating to a particular set of DNA sequences of known expression pattern is retrieved, processed, cross-referenced and viewed to provide further information about a particular DNA sequence to facilitate its identification as a candidate gene.

Automated pathway recognition system

Methods for correlating genes and gene function are provided. Such methods generally involve selecting a candidate gene that appears to be correlated with a particular cellular state or activity and then validating the role of the candidate gene in establishment of such a cellular state or activity. Certain methods utilized RNA interference techniques in the validation process.

High-throughput transcriptome and functional validation analysis

The present invention identifies a gene whose gene product provides a protective effect against neurological disorders or neuronal injuries. Further, the invention provides methods for diagnosing or assessing an individual's susceptibility to a neuronal injury such as stroke. Also provided are therapeutic methods for treating patients, and methods for prophylactically treating individuals susceptible to various neurological disorders or neuronal injuries. Additionally, the invention describes screening methods for identifying agents that can be administered to treat individuals that have suffered or are at risk to suffer such disorders or injuries.

Method of diagnosing ischemic stroke via UCP-2 detection

The invention relates to a human phospholipase C expressed in the brain (B-PLC) and induced in response to ischemic brain tissue. The inventions provides methods and reagents useful for diagnosis and treatment of hypoxic-ischemic brain insult such as stroke.

Diagnostic marker for neurological conditions

Techniques for facilitating the identification of candidate genes from a plurality of DNA sequences. According to an embodiment of the present invention, techniques are provided for extracting and integrating information from various information sources and results of various analyses, and storing the integrated information in a form which is conducive to identification of candidate genes. The stored information may include results of a homology search for the plurality of DNA sequences, annotative information for the plurality of DNA sequences indicating the biochemical functions and physiological roles of the plurality of DNA sequences, gene expression profile data for the plurality of DNA sequences describing behavioral patterns of the plurality of DNA sequences, results from clustering the plurality of DNA sequences based on time course data as described by the gene expression profile data, and other information.

Techniques for facilitating identification of candidate genes

The present invention relates to the use of proteins which are differentially expressed in primary brain tumor tissues, as compared to normal brain tissues, as biomolecular targets for brain tumor treatment therapies. Specifically, the present invention relates to the use of immunotherapeutic and immunoimaging agents that specifically bind to human protein tyrosine phosphatase-zeta (PTP&zgr;) for the treatment and visualization of brain tumors in patients. The present invention also provides compounds and pharmaceutically acceptable compositions for administration in the methods of the invention.

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Foster City, CA, United States of America

Daniel J Chin