Antagonist of A3 Adenosine Receptor Fluorescent Probes for the Study of Diseases that Involve A3 Signaling

This molecular probe may serve as a companion tool to identify and stratify patient populations based on the prevalence of the target A3 adenosine receptors.

Small molecule drugs, A3AR-selective agonists, are currently in advanced clinical trials for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma, autoimmune inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and dry eye disease, and other conditions.

Polyclonal Antibodies for the Specialized Signaling G protein, Gbeta5

Researchers at NIDDK have developed polyclonal antibodies against the G protein, Gbeta5. Gbeta5 is a unique and highly specialized G protein that exhibits much less homology than other Gbeta isoforms (~50%) and is preferentially expressed in brain and neuroendocrine tissue. It is expressed prominently in the neuronal cell membrane, as well as in the cytosol and nucleus. Although this distribution pattern suggests that Gbeta5 may shuttle information between classical G protein-signaling elements at the plasma membrane and the cell interior, its function in the brain is largely unknown.

Magnetic Resonance Arterial Wall Imaging Methods that Compensate for Patient Aperiodic Intrinsic Cardiac, Chest Wall, and Blood Flow-Induced Motions

The technology includes MRI methods, systems, and software for reliably imaging vasculature and vascular wall thickness while compensating for aperiodic intrinsic motion of a patient during respiration. To overcome the loss of the orthogonality due to uncompensated residual motions and after a lapse of time equal to the trigger delay commenced at the cardiac cycle, the system acquires multiple consecutive time-resolved images of the arterial wall. The cine images are processed offline and a wall thickness measurement is produced.

Small Molecule MRS5474 with Anticonvulsant Activity for Treatment of Epilepsy

Adenosine modulates many physiological processes by activating specific adenosine receptors. These adenosine receptors play a critical role in the regulation of cellular signaling and are broadly distributed throughout the body. Thus, the ability to modulate adenosine receptor-mediated signaling is an attractive therapeutic strategy for a broad range of diseases. This technology relates to a group of compounds that display high affinity and specificity for the A1 adenosine receptor subtype.

Modified Peptide Nucleic Acids (PNAs) for Detection of DNA or RNA and Identification of a Disease or Pathogen

The NIH announces a novel method for fast, simple, and accurate detection of nucleic acids outside the modern laboratory. Nucleic acid testing is highly specific and often provides definitive identification of a disease or pathogen. Methods to detect nucleic acid sequences and identify a disease or pathogen are dominated by PCR, but applying PCR-based techniques in remote settings is challenging. Researchers at the NIH have developed a universal, colorimetric, nucleic acid-responsive diagnostic system that uses two short peptide nucleic acid (PNA) probes and does not rely on PCR.

Transgenic Mice with Constitutively Active M3 Muscarinic Receptor in Islet Beta Cells

Q490L point mutation was introduced into the rat M3 muscarinic receptor cDNA to confer persistent, constitutive (ligand-independent) activity. Expression of the M3 receptor mutant was placed under the control of a 650 bp fragment of the rat insulin promoter II (RIP II) to limit expression to the islet beta cell.