350 results about "Cell Aggregations" patented technology

Embodiments of the invention are directed to a method of estimating the physical stability of a protein formulation. A particular embodiment of the invention places the protein formulation under an agitational stress that causes the protein to aggregate at an accelerated rate. In one embodiment, the change in protein aggregation is monitored spectroscopically using Thioflavin-T. Embodiments of the invention then utilize a survival curve analysis to ascertain the relative physical stability of the different protein formulations under study. This method was used to develop novel surfactant-stabilized insulin formulations in a rapid, cost efficient manner, thus illustrating the utility of the inventive method to the discovery and development of pharmaceutical protein formulations.

The present invention generally relates to systems and methods for determining oxygen in a sample, or in a subject. In one aspect, the present invention is generally directed to an article exhibiting a determinable feature responsive to oxygen, such as oxygen-sensitive particles. The particles may exhibit a determinable change with a change in oxygen concentration, and such particles can accordingly be used to determine oxygen. For example, in one set of embodiments, the particles may be at least partially coated with a protein, such as hemoglobin, that is able to interact with oxygen. In some cases, the protein may aggregate under certain conditions (e.g., under relatively low oxygen concentrations), and such protein aggregation may be used, for example, to cause the particles to become aggregated, which can be determined in some way. In some cases, such aggregation may be irreversible; i.e., the degree of aggregation corresponds to the most extreme oxygen concentrations that the proteins were exposed to. Such articles may be used, for example, to determine oxygen within a sample, or within a subject, such as a human subject. For instance, the article may be formed as a skin patch, or administered to the skin of a subject, e.g., on the surface of the skin, within the dermis or epidermis, etc., to determine oxygen within the subject.

A melt-processed protein composition formed from a protein, plasticizer, and an electrophilic reagent is provided. The electrophilic reagent, for instance, may be selected to undergo a nucleophilic addition reaction with free sulfhydryl and / or thiyl radicals to help minimize the formation of disulfide crosslinking bonds that could otherwise lead to protein aggregation during melt processing. To enhance the degree to which the electrophilic reagent can limit crosslinking, a plasticizer is also employed that helps to mediate the adsorption of the electrophilic reagent into the internal structure of the protein, where it can be more stably retained. Furthermore, the temperature and shear rate employed during melt blending may also be selected to be relatively low to help limit polypeptide dissociation, thereby minimizing the impact of aggregation and embrittlement.

The present invention is based, at least in part on the discovery of therapeutic agents capable of preventing, inhibiting or modulating abnormal processing, misfolding or aggregation of protein. The therapeutic agents of the invention may prevent, inhibit or modulate the formation of inclusions. The therapeutic agents of the invention may also be capable of facilitating clearance and / or blocking the cellular toxicity of inclusions to treat or ameliorate disorders characterized by protein aggregation. Compounds which bind to structural motifs commonly found in protein aggregates, such as β-sheets, would represent strong candidates for such compounds and are therefore desirable.

Disclosed are methods of preventing, treating, or diagnosing in a subject a disorder in protein folding or aggregation, or amyloid formation, deposition, accumulation, or persistence consisting of administering to said subject a pharmaceutically effective amount of inositol stereoisomers, enantiomers or derivatives thereof.

Disclosed is a stable pharmaceutically acceptable formulation containing a pharmaceutically acceptable amount of a protein. Also disclosed are methods for preparing such formulations and methods for inhibiting protein aggregate formation induced by physical stresses associated with processing, manufacture, shipping, and storing protein formulations, particularly freeze / thaw stress.

The invention relates to a novel method for treating a variety of diseases and disorders, including polyglutamine expansion diseases such as Huntington's disease, neurological degeneration, psychiatric disorders, and protein aggregation disorders and diseases, comprising administering to patients in need thereof a therapeutically effective amount of one or more deacetylase inhibitors. The invention is also directed to a transgenic fly useful as a model of polyglutamine expansion diseases, which may be used to test potential therapeutic agents.

An objective of the present invention is to provide methods for stabilizing proteins and methods for suppressing protein aggregation, which comprise the step of adding meglumine to the proteins. Another objective of the present invention is to provide agents for suppressing protein aggregation, which comprise meglumine. Still another objective of the present invention is to provide pharmaceutical compositions comprising antibody molecules stabilized by meglumine, methods for producing the pharmaceutical compositions, and kits comprising the pharmaceutical compositions.To achieve the objectives described above, the present inventors assessed the antibody-stabilizing effect of meglumine, an amino sugar. As a result, the inventors discovered that meglumine was useful as a stabilizer for antibody molecules and also as an excipient for freeze-dried preparations.

The subject invention concerns the reduction of protein aggregation in the neurons of a mammal through the use of a ketogenic treatment such as a ketogenic diet, a physical training regimen and / or administration of agents to increase fatty acid oxidation. Such ketogenic treatment can be useful in the reduction of certain aggregates including amyloid β peptide, polyglutamine containing huntintin protein, polyglutamine containing androgen receptor, polyglutamine containing atrophin-1, polyglutamine containing ataxins, α-synclein, prion protein, tau and superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1).

Methods of identifying a compound that inhibit, enhance and / or misdirect assembly of a viral capsid include providing fluorescently-labeled capsid polypeptides labeled with a fluorescent dye that changes fluorescence at high concentration, wherein assembly of the capsid polypeptides into the viral capsid results in juxtaposition of at least one of the N-terminus and C-terminus of the capsid polypeptides. In vitro assembly reactions are performed utilizing the labeled capsid polypeptide in the presence of the at least one test compound, and an amount of fluorescence is detected at at least one time point following induction of assembly, wherein the induction of assembly is detected as a change in the fluorescence of the sample. It is then determined whether the change in fluorescence detected in the presence of the at least one test compound following induction of assembly is decreased, increased, or occurs at a fast rate when compared to the fluorescence detected in the absence of the at least one test compound, wherein such decrease is an indication that the at least one test compound interferes with assembly of the viral capsid.

The present invention is directed to methods for the treatment or prophylaxis of a tauopathy comprising administering to a patient in need thereof a medicament comprising a phenothiazine.

The invention relates to a drug with autophagia inductivity for treating the diseases caused by the accumulation of misfolded proteins and a screening method thereof. Quantitative analysis is carried out to the changes of the fluorescence marked LC3 in the cells of the known medicine combination and to the changes of the fluorescence marked FYVE in the cells to obtain the candidate compound of an autophagia inductive agent; and then longevous protein degradation and polyQ degradation is carried out to finally determine the drug with the autophagia inductivity for treating the diseases caused by the accumulation of misfolded proteins. The method of the invention is a simple and high effective compound screening method which can affect autophagia.