This invention describes methods and compositions of peptides that inhibit the binding of Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) to erythrocytes. Malarial parasites enter the red blood cell through several erythrocyte receptors, each being specific for a given species of Plasmodia. For P. falciparum, the erythrocyte binding antigen (EBA-175) is the ligand of the plasmodia merozoites that interacts with the receptor glycophorin A on the surface of red blood cells.

The disclosed invention provides materials and methods to treat granulocytopenia (low white cell count in the blood) which is characterized by a reduced number of granulocytes (relative) or an absence of granulocytes (absolute). This condition is commonly associated with cancer chemotherapy, but is seen less frequently in a number of conditions including the use of propylthiouracil, radiotherapy for marrow ablation for bone marrow transplantation, aplastic anemia, systemic lupus erythematosus, AIDS and a variety of other situations.

This invention relates to a method of using supervised pattern recognition methods to classifying, diagnosing, predicting, or prognosticating various diseases.

The invention provides selections of genes expressed in a cancer cell that function to characterize such cancer, and methods of using the same for diagnosis and for targeting the therapy of selected cancers. In particular, methods are provided to classify cancers belonging to distinct diagnostic categories, which often present diagnostic dilemmas in clinical practice, such as the small round blue cell tumors (SRBCTs) of childhood, including neuroblastoma (NB), rhabdomyosarcoma RMS), Burkitt’s lymphoma (BL), and the Ewing family of tumors (EWS).

The second leading cause of death in the United States is cancer and more than one million Americans are diagnosed with cancer each year, with this number likely to increase as the population ages.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a life-long chronic autoimmune disease diagnosed primarily in young adults who have a virtually normal life expectancy. Estimates place the annual costs of MS in the United States in excess of $2.5 billion. There are approximately 250,000 to 400,000 persons in the United States with MS, and approximately 2.5 million persons worldwide suffer from MS. A variety of therapies are used to treat MS, but there is no single therapy that can be used to treat all patients.

Topisomerases are cellular enzymes that are vital for replication of the genome. However, if topisomerase and DNA form covalent complexes that prevent the resealing of DNA, this may lead to cell death. Essentially, this invention consists of a new isolated and cloned enzyme, tyrosyl-DNA phospodiesterase (TDP1) that is capable of hydrolyzing the covalent complexes between topisomerase and DNA, allowing the DNA to reseal.

SMADs are a novel set of mammalian proteins that act downstream of TGF-beta family ligands. These proteins can be categorized into three distinct functional sets, receptor-activated SMADs (SMADs 1,2,3,5, and 8), the common mediator SMAD (SMAD 4), and inhibitory SMADs (SMADs 6 and 7). SMAD proteins are thought to play a role in vertebrate development and tumorigenesis.

The invention can be used to develop tests that are much more rapid than conventional tests for determining drug resistance. It relates to the discovery that a putative gene of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTb) with no previously identified function is responsible for the ability of the bacteria to activate a class of second line thioamide drugs used for MTb infections. The gene, termed "etaA", codes for the synthesis of a monooxygenase, the enzyme responsible for the oxidative activation of the drugs.

Biological materials are important research tools that can be used for diagnostic as well as therapeutic purposes. Antibodies have become viable drugs in the market today and there is a general market need for systems that may facilitate production of efficient and effective antibodies. In recent years, monoclonal antibodies have gained significant importance in their use, both as diagnostics and therapeutics, to intervene and combat diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and infections.