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Mesothelin is a cell surface protein that is highly expressed in aggressive cancers such as malignant mesothelioma, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, bile duct carcinoma and gastric cancer. As a result, mesothelin is an excellent candidate for tumor targeted immunotherapeutics. However, the antibodies against mesothelin that are available for clinical trials are of murine origin. These antibodies have the potential to elicit immune responses in patients, which may adversely affect the ability to provide patients with repeated doses.

Adoptive cell transfer (ACT) is a promising immunotherapeutic approach for cancer treatment. During ACT, if a patient is subjected to lymphodepletion prior to cell transfer, there is an observed improvement in a patient’s response to treatment. However, lymphodepletion is associated with detrimental effects, including severe immune dysfunction that persists after treatment.

Multiparametric MRI improves image detail and prostate cancer detection rates compared to standard MRI. Computer aided diagnostics (CAD) used in combination with multiparametric MRI images may further improve prostate cancer detection and visualization. The technology, developed by researchers at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (NIHCC), is an automated CAD system for use in processing and visualizing prostate lesions on multiparametric MRI images.

Bacterial spores can be modified to display molecules of interest, including drugs, immunogenic peptides, antibodies and other functional proteins of interest (such as enzymes).  The resulting engineered bacterial spores can provide many useful functions such as the treatment of infections, use as an adjuvant for the delivery of vaccines, and the enzymatic degradation of environmental pollutants.

Problem: Cryopreservation is a process where living biological materials like cells, tissues, and cell therapies (which are susceptible to damage caused by unregulated chemical kinetics) are preserved by cooling to very low temperatures in the presence of specific cryopreservation media that protects the biological material from damage. In order to be used, the biological material ideally should be thawed in a controlled manner that minimizes damage and desirably brings the material back to a viable state.

Metastatic cancers cause up to 90% of cancer deaths, yet few treatment options exist for patients with metastatic disease. Adoptive transfer of T cells that express tumor-reactive T-cell receptors (TCRs) has been shown to mediate regression of metastatic cancers in some patients. Unfortunately, identification of antigens expressed solely by cancer cells and not normal tissues has been a major challenge for the development of T-cell based immunotherapies. Thus, it is essential to find novel target antigens differentially expressed in cancer versus normal tissues.

This technology consists of highly specific rabbit monoclonal antibodies reactive with phosphorylated tyrosine located at amino acid 1235 in the human MET sequence. Binding to this pYl235 residue is independent of the phosphorylation of other tyrosines in the vicinity (1230 and 1234), does not cross-react with these nearby phosphotyrosine residues, and does not occur when Y1235 is unphosphorylated.

Most early work on CD133 was carried out using one of two monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), AC133 and AC141, which recognize an undefined glycosylated epitope of CD 133.

Human Papilloma Viruses (HPV) is a very common virus; nearly 80 million people—about one in four—are currently infected in the United States. HPV is a group of more than 150 related viruses. Each HPV virus in this large group is given a number which is called its HPV type. HPV is named for the warts (papillomas) some that HPV types can cause. Some other HPV types can lead to cancer, especially cervical cancer.

The invention listed below is owned by an agency of the U.S. Government and is available for licensing and/or co-development in the U.S. in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR part 404 to achieve expeditious commercialization of results of federally-funded research and development.