Award Data

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Thromboembolic disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the developed world. Because platelets play a critical role in the activation and propagation of thrombosis, they represent important targets for new anti-thrombotic drugs. A potent inhibitor of human platelet function has been isolated from the bloodfeeding hookworm, Ancylostoma caninum. ...

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed studies are aimed at developing a new tumor immunotherapy by using isoaspartyl-modified peptides to break immune tolerance to "self" tumor antigens on breast cancer cells. Most tumor antigens have been characterized as normal, non-mutated self-peptides, linking the concepts of autoimmunity with the development of tumor immunity. Previous studies de ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Breast cancer remains one of the most insidious and difficult to treat human malignancies, affecting thousands of individuals each year. Our proposed studies are aimed at developing a novel tumor immunotherapy by using cryptic peptides of Her-2 protein and modified Her-2 peptides, both of which break immune tolerance to ?self? tumor antigens expressed on breast ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal will take advantage of several unique observations made in understanding the properties of self proteins that regulate the development of autoimmune responses. In attempts to define cryptic self peptides of lupus autoantigens, we found that a particular post-translational modification of a self peptide elicited strong B and T cell autoimmunity. T ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic bacterial pathogen responsible for a significant proportion of serious hospital acquired infections. The organism has intrinsic resistance to most types of antibiotics and can readily acquire resistance to all clinically available antimicrobials, resulting in infections that are impossible to treat. P. aeruginosa colo ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic bacterial pathogen responsible for a significant proportion of serious hospital acquired infections. The organism has intrinsic resistance to most types of antibiotics and can readily acquire resistance to all clinically available antimicrobials, resulting in infections that are impossible to treat. P. aeruginosa colo ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Thromboembolic disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the developed world. Despite the need for effective therapies for treating and preventing pathologic activation of thrombosis, there are relatively few currently available alternatives to intravenous heparin. The total commercial market for antithrombotic agents has been estimated at 2 billio ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall goal of this project is to develop therapeutic antivirals to treat life-threatening flavivirus infections. Enfuvirtide, a clinically successful peptide HIV fusion inhibitor, is the prototype for a new class of antivirals that inhibit viral envelope protein structural rearrangements essential for viral entry into host cells. In preliminary experiment ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): West Nile (WN) virus is a flavivirus that can cause fatal human encephalitis. Over the past four years, this virus has established itself across the United States. There are no approved vaccines or therapies to protect against WN virus. This project is designed to develop an effective anti-WN virus RNA interference therapy. Our hypothesis is that small interfer ...