University of South Florida

H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Inc.

University of Colorado

Huntington Potter

Timothy Boyd

Gary W Arendash

Heather Sevey Lawrence Jim

Steven Bennett

Glenn Simon

Chuanhai Cao

Xiaoyang Lin

Lars Nilsson

The present invention provides novel GM-CSF constructs and methods of using the same. In certain embodiments, the constructs of the invention comprise certain peptide fragments from GM-CSF. In other embodiments, the invention provides certain GM-CSF peptides that act as GM-CSF mimetics.

GM-CSF mimetics and methods of making and using same

The subject invention concerns materials and methods for treating a person or animal having cognitive impairment. In one embodiment, the method comprises administering an effective amount of one or more inflammatory mediator(s), for example, fms-related tyrosine kinase 3 (Flt3) ligand, interleukin-6 (IL-6), macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), interleukin-1 (IL-1), interleukin-3 (IL-3), erythropoietin (EPO), vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A), hypoxia-inducible transcription factor (HIF-1alpha), insulin like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), tumor necrosis factor (TNF), granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF), Stem Cell Factor (SCF), Darbepoetin (ARANESP), and metalloproteinases, to an animal or person in need of treatment.

Methods of treating cognitive impairment

Changes in adaptive immune system were identified and correlated as a predictor of A&#x3b2;and A&#x3b2;and AD progression. T-cell, B-cell, TCR and BCR profiles were used to correlate clinical progression of AD. The CDR3 region was spectratyped, showing the clonality of the CDR3 region. This intrafamily gene fragment length profile was compared to age-matched controls, thereby indicating the existence of a neurodegenerative disease. The novel method is useful in diagnosing neurodegenerative disease, like Parkinson's disease, HIV-associated Dementia, or Alzheimer's disease. Moreover, this permits the clinical identification of patients at a very early stage of AD and/or monitoring the potential benefits of disease modifying therapeutics.

Method of diagnosing or assessing risk for Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's disease using TCR clonality

A transgenic animal, preferably a mouse, that expresses human antichymotrypsin (ACT) in brain tissues is provided, together with animal tissue-derived cell lines and progeny animals of said transgenic animal. Progeny are obtained by mating the transgeny animal with select animal strains used as models of Alzheimer's disease, related neurological disorders, or amyloidogenic diseases. Methods utilizing the parent and progeny animals and cells derived therefrom are disclosed for testing compounds for use as anti-inflammatory drugs, inhibitors of amyloidogenesis, and/or inhibitors of tau protein pathology associated with Alzheimer's disease, in the treatment of a variety of neurological diseases.

Transgenic animal and methods

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Denver, CO, United States of America

Huntington Potter