A monoclonal antibody against a novel Sialomucin CD300LG

Integrating molecular interactions and gene expression to identify biomarkers to predict response to tumor necrosis factor inhibitor therapies in rheumatoid arthritis patients

BACKGROUND

Targeted therapy using anti-TNF (tumor necrosis factor) is the first option for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Anti-TNF therapy, however, does not lead to meaningful clinical improvement in many RA patients. To predict which patients will not benefit from anti-TNF therapy, clinical tests should be performed prior to treatment beginning.

OBJECTIVE

Although various efforts have been made to identify biomarkers and pathways that may be helpful to predict the response to anti-TNF treatment, gaps remain in clinical use due to the low predictive power of the selected biomarkers.

METHODS

In this paper, we used a network-based computational method to identify the select the predictive biomarkers to guide the treatment of RA patients.

RESULTS

We select 69 genes from peripheral blood expression data from 46 subjects using a sparse network-based method. The result shows that the selected 69 genes might influence biological processes and molecular functions related to the treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

Our approach advances the predictive power of anti-TNF therapy response and provides new genetic markers and pathways that may influence the treatment.

Monoclonal antibodies against NS4B protein of japanese encephalitis virus

Japanese encephalitis (JE) is one of the most prevalent global viral encephalitis viruses. The functions of JEV (virus) NS4B protein are still under investigation. In our study, NS4B was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified by dialysis. Two clones of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs 1B1 and 1C3) against NS4B protein were generated and their characterizations were investigated. IFA, Western blot, and ELISA results showed that the MAbs were specific against JEV NS4B protein. The epitope of the MAbs was further identified using pairs of synthesized overlapping peptides. These MAbs may provide valuable tools for further exploration of the functions of NS4B and the pathogenesis of Japanese encephalitis virus.