76 results about "Follistatin" patented technology

The present invention relates to the use of a protein, GASP1, comprising at least one follistatin domain to modulate the level or activity of growth and differentiation factor-8 (GDF-8). More particularly, the invention relates to the use of GASP1 for treating disorders that are related to modulation of the level or activity of GDF-8. The invention is useful for treating muscular diseases and disorders, particularly those in which an increase in muscle tissue would be therapeutically beneficial. The invention is also useful for treating diseases and disorders related to metabolism, adipose tissue, and bone degeneration.

The present invention generally relates to methods, systems and computer readable media for the diagnosis and/or prognosis of a cardiac stress and/or skeletal muscle stress in a subject. In particular, in one embodiment, the methods, systems and computer readable media detect a level of Fstl expression, such as Fstl1 polypeptide or mRNA expression in a biological sample obtained from a subject, where a high level relative to a reference Fstl expression level is indicative of a subject having, or is at risk of cardiac stress and/or skeletal muscle stress. In such embodiments, the method futher comprises administering or undertaking an appropriate therapy in a subject identified to have or be at risk of cardiac stress and/or skeletal muscle stress. Another aspect of the present invention relates to the methods, systems and computer readable media detect a level of Fstl expression, such as Fstl1 polypeptide or mRNA expression in a biological sample obtained from a subject where a low level relative to a reference Fstl expression level is indicative of a subject having, or is at risk of diabetes and/or metabolic dysfunction. In such embodiments, the method futher comprises administering or undertaking an appropriate therapy in a subject identified to have or be at risk of diabetes and/or metabolic dysfunction.

Described is a low voltage, pulsed electrical stimulation device for controlling expression of, for example, follistatin, a muscle formation promotion protein, by tissues. Epicardial stimulation is especially useful for heart treatment. Follistatin controlled release is also useful for treating other ailments, such as erectile dysfunction, aortic aneurysm, and failing heart valves.

Disclosed is a method of transdifferentiating an epidermal basal cell into a cell having one or more morphological, physiological and/or immunological features of a neural progenitor, neuronal, or glial cell by culturing a proliferating epidermal basal cell population derived from the skin of a mammalian subject; exposing the epidermal basal cell(s) to an antagonist of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP), such as fetuin, noggin, chordin, gremlin, or follistatin; and growing the cell(s) in the presence of at least one antisense oligonucleotide comprising a segment of a human MSX1 gene and/or a segment of a human HES1 gene, or homologous non-human counterpart of either of these. Also disclosed is a transdifferentiated cell of epidermal origin and cell cultures derived therefrom. In addition, methods of using the inventive transdifferentiated cell(s) and cell cultures to identify a novel nerve growth factor or to screen a potential chemotherapeutic agent by detecting the presence or absence of an effect, in vitro, on a morphological, physiological and/or molecular biological property of the transdifferentiated cell(s) are described, as is a method of using the transdifferentiated cell(s) and cell cultures to screen a potential chemotherapeutic agent to treat a nervous system disorder of genetic origin. A kit useful for practicing the methods is disclosed

Follistatin-like protein (FSTL-1) is a secreted glycoprotein of unknown function, first isolated from mouse osteoblastic cells as a transforming growth factor-β1-inducible gene. The inventors have discovered that FSTL-1 is a proinflammatory mediator. As such, the invention provides for composition and methods of using agents that bind to FSTL-1 to modulate various types of inflammation (e.g., autoimmune diseases). Inhibitors and antagonists of FSTL-1, particularly antibodies or antibody fragments, may be used to treat conditions related to inflammation, such as arthritis. In addition, the inventors have discovered that FSTL-1 has a role in the Th17 pathway. Accordingly, the invention provides for compositions and methods of using agents which bind to FSTL-1 to modulate the generation of Th17 cells. Such agents are useful for delaying development of and treating diseases associated with undesired production of Th17 cells, such as autoimmune diseases. Furthermore, since FSTL-1 is a proinflammatory mediator with a role in cancer, the invention provides for compositions and methods of using a pharmaceutical composition of FSTL-1 to delay development of or treat cancer.

The disclosure relates to methods for treating subjects with musculoskeletal diseases or with muscle wasting not associated with a musculoskeletal disease by gene transfer with recombinant adeno-associated viruses (rAAV) encoding myostatin inhibitors such as follistatin-344. The rAAV are administered prior to development of diffuse muscle fibrosis in a subject, or the rAAV administration avoids regions of muscle fibrosis in a subject.

The present invention relates to the use of proteins comprising at least one follistatin domain to modulate the level or activity of growth and differentiation factor-8 (GDF-8). More particularly, the invention relates to the use of proteins comprising at least one follistatin domain, excluding follistatin itself, for treating disorders that are related to modulation of the level or activity of GDF-8. The invention is useful for treating muscular diseases and disorders, particularly those in which an increase in muscle tissue would be therapeutically beneficial. The invention is also useful for treating diseases and disorders related to metabolism, adipose tissue, and bone degeneration.

In certain aspects, the present disclosure provides compositions and methods for inhibiting activity of TGFβ superfamily ligands, particularly ligands such as GDF8, GDF11, activin A, activin B, activin C and activin E, in vertebrates, including rodents and primates, and particularly in humans. In some embodiments, the compositions of the disclosure may be used to treat or prevent diseases or disorders that are associated with abnormal activity of a follistatin-related polypeptide and/or a follistatin ligand.

The invention relates to a function of follistatin-like protein l (FSTL1) for promoting the process of pulmonary fibrosis disease in vivo, and use of an anti-FSTL1 antibody in treatment, alleviation or improvement of the pulmonary fibrosis disease or symptom.

The present invention relates to methods and compositions for monitoring, diagnosis, prognosis, and determination of treatment regimens in subjects suffering from or suspected of having a renal injury. In particular, the invention relates to using assays that detect one or more biomarkers selected from the group consisting of Beta-nerve growth factor, Interleukin-17A, Follitropin subunit beta, Collagenase 3, Follistatin, Vitamin D Binding Protein, Islet amyloid polypeptide, Insulin C-peptide, Complement Factor H, Gastric inhibitory polypeptide, Glucagon-like peptide 1, Glucagon, Involucrin, Type II cytoskeletal Keratin-1/Keratin-10, Type II cytoskeletal Keratin-6A/6B/6C, Osteocalcin, Lipopolysaccharide, Pancreatic prohormone, Peptide YY, Agouti-related protein, Ciliary neurotrophic factor, Appetite-regulating hormone, Transthyretin, Insulin receptor substrate 1, and NF-kappa-B inhibitor alpha as diagnostic and prognostic biomarker assays in renal injuries.

The invention belongs to the technical field of bioengineering, and relates to a method for promoting sheep in-vitro embryo development by using follistatin, which comprises the following steps: (1) acquiring a slaughtered sheep ovary; (2) extracting follicles for later use; (3) culturing selected oocytes in a CO2 incubator, and adding into in-vitro fertilization solution drops; (4) adding the in-vitro fertilization drops, and carrying out co-incubation with the oocytes; (5) taking out the early embryo, transferring into a 10 mu g/L follistatin in-vitro culture solution, washing 3-4 times, and culturing for 24-26 hours; and (6) taking out the embryo, washing with the in-vitro culture solution, calculating the merogenesis rate, and calculating the blastula rate after culturing for 144-168 hours. By using the follistatin to treat the early embryo subjected to sheep oocyte in-vitro fertilization, the method can obviously enhance the in-vitro embryo development blastula rate.

The present invention provides, among other things, methods and compositions for treating muscular dystrophy, in particular, Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). In some embodiments, a method according to the present invention includes administering to an individual who is suffering from or susceptible to DMD an effective amount of a recombinant follistatin protein such that at least one symptom or feature of DMD is reduced in intensity, severity, or frequency, or has delayed onset.

The invention discloses a bicistronic co-expression gene transfer body and a preparation method. The gene sequence of the gene transfer body is SEQ ID NO: 17. The gene transfer body comprises bovine matrix attachment regions (MARs), an RNA polymerase promoter III (U6), short hairpin RNA (shRAN) targeting the third exon of bovine myostatin (MSTN), a CMV promoter, a bovine follistatin (FSTN) and an SV40polyA signal region from the five prime end to the three prime end in order. The gene transfer body provided by the invention doesn't contain a vector backbone sequence and is a clean and safe gene transfer; and the gene transfer body combines the MAR with a knock-down vector for the first time and can effectively enhance the knock-down effect of the vector. Besides, the gene transfer body achieves the purpose of conducting knock-down and over-expression simultaneously by independently starting double promoters, and provides new ideas and paths for improving the characteristics (such as economic characteristics) of double-gene/multi-gene control.