Johns Hopkins University

Merck + Co., Inc.

Livia Angela Casciola-Rosen

Antony Rosen

Lisa Christopher-Stine

Andrew Mammen

Ami A Shah

Bert Vogelstein

Kenneth W Kinzler

Nickolas Papadopoulos

Donald W Nicholson

Marikki Laiho

Nancy A Thornberry

Erika Darrah

Takeru Igusa

Felipe A Andrade

Andrew Josef Ewald

Christine Joseph

John Clayton Hall

Anthony Rosen

Sophie Roy

Marikki K Laiho

Veena Padmanaban

The present disclosure provides, among other things, compositions (e.g., autoantibodies) that inhibit the growth, viability, or mobility of (invasion by) a cancer cell. Also provided are applications, such as therapeutic and diagnostic methods, in which the agents are useful, as well as screening methods for identifying autoantibodies useful in the applications.

Autoimmune antibodies for use in inhibiting cancer cell growth

This document relates to materials and methods for assessing and/or treating subjects (e.g., subjects having autoimmune diseases). For example, materials and methods for determining if a subject (e.g., a human having an autoimmune disease) has one or more antibodies that can be used to identify the subject as having a lower risk of cancer or as having a higher risk of cancer are provided. Materials and methods for treating a subject (e.g., a human) identified as having a higher cancer risk for cancer are also provided.

Materials and methods for assessing cancer risk and treating cancer

The present inventors identified a subpopulation of genes induced by type I and type II IFNs in a human submandibular gland (HSG) epithelial cell line. Unexpectedly, it was found that the majority of genes that are highly up-regulated by IFN-&#x3b1; are also highly induced by IFN-&#x3b3;. In contrast, there was a substantial group of genes that are highly induced by IFN-&#x3b3; only. In target tissues, this identified subpopulation of genes and probes allow different IFN patterns to be discerned, enabling more precise molecular classification of patient subpopulations. The identified gene probes are useful for selecting and monitoring therapy, and for defining efficacy of novel agents in the autoimmune rheumatic diseases.

Methods for identifying patterns of IFN induced expression and use in diagnosis, monitoring and therapy

Autoimmune diseases are thought to be initiated by exposures to foreign antigens that cross-react with endogenous molecules. Analyses of peripheral blood lymphocytes and serum suggested that mutations in autoimmune antigen targets sparked cellular immunity and cross-reactive humoral immune responses. Acquired immunity to autoimmune antigens can help control naturally occurring cancers.

Autoimmune antigens and cancer

The invention provides compositions, methods, and kits for diagnosing, monitoring, and otherwise characterizing a myopathy and for detecting the presence of autoantibodies in a biological sample.

Compositions and methods for characterizing a myopathy

The invention provides compositions, methods, and kits diagnosing, monitoring, and otherwise characterizing a myopathy and for detecting the presence of autoantibodies in a biological sample.

The present invention provides a method of producing autoantigens, compositions comprising autoantigenic fragments and methods of using autoantigenic fragments in the treatment of a condition associated with an autoimmune response. Also provided are assays for the detection or assessment of an autoimmune response.

Autoantigenic fragments, methods and assays

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Pikesville, MD, United States of America

Livia Angela Casciola-Rosen