DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death among men in the United States. The first-line therapy for metastatic prostate cancer is suppression of testicular androgen synthesis. Testosterone precursors derived from the adrenal gland, the… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Regulation of bile acid metabolism is a therapeutic target for treatment of hypercholesterolemia as well as for cholestasis, the pathological buildup of bile in liver. Therapeutic options for direct modulation of hepatic bile formation and transport are limited.… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term objective of this proposal is to develop the first class of small molecule, orally-bioavailable drugs that increases T cell production from the thymus and enhances immune reconstitution in AIDS and other immunodeficiencies. About 40 million… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The central goal of this project is to identify potent and specific small molecule ligands to the orphan nuclear receptor RORalpha (NR1F1). As a drug target, RORalpha has the potential to address pathological factors in the pre-diabetic metabolic syndrome and in… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The central circadian regulator of the brain, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), has been implicated in the pathology of sleep disorders. Deterioration of sleep consolidation, such as inappropriate or fragmented sleep, increases with age or dementia and is… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A novel class of T helper cell, distinct from TH1 and TH2 cells, has been implicated in the development of murine experimentally-acquired encephalomyelitis (EAE), a model of multiple sclerosis (MS). This effector T cell , termed a TH-17 cell, is characterized by… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-17 has been implicated in joint destruction and in the inflammatory pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in human studies. Targeted deletion or inhibition of IL-17 leads to signific ant reduction in disease severity in animal… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn's Disease and ulcerative colitis (UC), is a lifelong T cell- mediated inflammatory condition of the small intestine or colon. The highly proinflammatory cytokine interle ukin-17 (IL-17) is elevated in proportion… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Circadian regulation of behavioral, metabolic, and endocrine function is a fundamental homeostatic process. Disruption of the circadian clock has been linked to sleep and psychiatric disorders at the genetic and molecul ar level. We initiated a discovery program… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Orphagen has identified antagonists to an orphan receptor that regulates the major biosynthetic steps of steroid hormone synthesis in the adrenal cortex and gonads. Safe and effective inhibition of adrenal steroid syn thesis has a number of potential… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Endometriosis is a major cause of severe pelvic pain, pain during menstruation, dyspareunia and infertility in women of child-bearing age with an estimated 22 billion cost of diagnosis and treatment in the U.S. The disease ordinarily regresses after menopause… More

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant) Median survival from time of diagnosis of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) or stage IV glioma, the most malignant form of brain cancer, is about one year, despite the current aggressive treatment that combines surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and bevacizumab… More