Brief description not available

Brief description not available

Brief description not available

A new strategy for barcoding single living cells using lipid-modified oligonucleotides that can vastly enhance sample multiplexing in droplet microfluidics-based RNA sequencing

These highly specific biomarkers distinguish potentially malignant mucinous cysts from benign nonmucinous cysts in the pancreas to help diagnose precursor lesions of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. The biomarkers can be detected through enzymatic assays with exceptional accuracy and sensitivity.

UCSF researchers have generated and validated a K14-HPV16 transgenic mouse model, in which transgene expression produces neoplastic progression that fully resembles the gynecological and other epithelial dysplastic lesions induced by high risk HPVs. This model offers an invaluable tool for studying HPV infection and developing new drugs for HPV treatment.

This technology establishes a novel method to identify compounds that are either selective or non-selective modulators of glucocorticoid receptor signaling.

A revolutionary blood-based diagnostic test measures three kinase signaling pathway activities to determine the likelihood of the patient having ASD at an early stage.

This invention identifies a novel host gene expression panel to screen for the Ebola virus in pre-symptomatic patients.

This invention identifies a set of antibodies that allow direct imaging of immune cells in a tumor biospecimen.

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer mortality in adult American men, with an estimated 217,730 new cases diagnosed in the U.S. in 2010.  Screening for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) has led to earlier detection of prostate cancer.  However, elevated serum PSA can be present in other non-malignant conditions, such as benign prostatic hyperplasia and, therefore, PSA screening has a high false positives rate.  Active surveillance (AS) of prostate cancer is a current strategy that is used to reduce overtreatment by monitoring of low-risk patients with physical exams, PSA assessments and repeat biopsies, and offering treatment to those with signs of progression.  However, nomograms that utilize these predictors of disease progression demonstrate an accuracy of only 61-79% in the clinic.  Given the limitations of PSA and significant disease that can be used to categorize patients with localized prostate cancer and assist in treatment decision-making.  Several recent studies have shown that serum miRNA signatures have potential value as prognostic tools for prostate cancer.

Sinusitis is one of the most common health care challenges in the United States affecting an estimated 15% of the population resulting in direct health care costs of approximately $6 billion per year.  According to the American Academy of Otolaryngology, chronic sinusitis alone results in 18-22 million US physician office visits annually.  Decongestants, antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medication are the initial line of treatment before opting for surgery in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) patients who do not improve.  Approximately 200,000 U.S. adults undergo CRS surgery per year.  The diagnosis on the basis of symptoms is common but can be unreliable since bacterial pathogens isolated from CRS patients are also found in healthy sinuses.  Accurate diagnosis based on the local microbiota is greatly needed for effective treatment.

Liver cancer is among the most lethal cancers, the third and sixth most frequent cause of cancer death in men and women, respectively.  Amongst the several histologically different primary hepatic malignancies, hepatocellular carinoma (HCC) accounts for 70 to 85% of the cases.  Animal models that mimic features of liver tumor development in human are invaluable research tools for understanding the mechanism of liver carcinogenesis and developing new drugs for treatment of patients with HCC.

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has evolved a number of mechanisms of evading the human immune system.  One way is through a high level of mutation, which makes it difficult to develop a vaccine that stimulates protective immunity against all of the different HIV variants.  Therefore, scientists are searching for a general surrogate maker that could be used to target any HIV-infected cell regardless of its mutational status. In this regard, scientists have recently focused their attention on so-called cryptic peptides of HIV.  Cryptic peptides are non-functional HIV proteins that are produced due to translational errors that occur in HIV-infected cells.  Because these cryptic peptides are commonly produced and then presented on the surface of the HIV-infected cells, it is thought they may be good surrogate markers and targets for any HIV-infected cell.

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a common manifestation of systemic autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), lupus and scleroderma, which can lead to inflammation and scarring of the lung and, consequently, to hypoxemia, pulmonary hypertension and death.  It is estimated that ILD occurs in approximately 15 percent of patients with RA.  Very little is known about how ILD disorders arise and what role loss of immune tolerance plays in ILD development.  Presently, there are no validated lung-specific autoantigens for diagnosis of autoimmune-mediated lung disease.  Current options for ILD treatment are limited to powerful immunosuppressive medications with significant side effects.  Identification of novel pulmonary biomarkers is sorely needed to develop better diagnostic methods and therapies for ILD.

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BACKGROUND:  Patients with certain types of tumors, in particular brain tumors, will frequently rely on radiologic imaging, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), for diagnosis and treatment monitoring. Unfortunately, MRI and similar modalities are often subject to interpretation and can be highly subjective in nature, making it difficult to differentiate between actual tumor recurrence and treatment effect. Subsequent or alternate methodology involving biopsy or other surgical procedures, can be highly invasive, dangerous, and lead to an extensive recovery time in patients undergoing such procedures. A less invasive method to reliably identify tumor recurrence would be valuable to clinicians and their patients during evaluations following treatment and/or surgical resection of a tumor.   TECHNOLOGY:   UCSF inventors have discovered a novel cancer biomarker that is expressed on the surfaces of myeloid cells, so that tumors can be evaluated for recurrence by screening small amounts of peripheral blood in patients. So far, these findings have been done in glioblastoma and prostate cancer patients, but further studies are underway for other types of solid tumors.

Candida albicans is one of the most frequently encountered fungal pathogens, causing a wide variety of infections ranging from mucosal infections in healthy immunocompetent people to life-threatening systemic infections in immunocompromised individuals such as those with AIDS and those undergoing immunosuppressive therapy or chemotherapy. When individuals with compromised immune system are infected, it is fatal in nearly one in three cases. The limited number of safe and effective antifungal drugs underscores the importance of understanding the genetic pathways underlying the pathogenicity of C. albicans.Because it is diploid and lacks a well-characterized sexual cycle, C. albicans poses a challenge for genetic analysis. UCSF researchers have recently carried out a genome-wide insertional mutagenesis of C. albicans. They have generated a library that represents one of the largest collections of mutant C. albicans, approximately 20,000 strains, each with an independent Tn7-based transposon insertion. There is an average of one insertion per 2.5kb of haploid genome.This library has been validated in a genetic screen that identified 300 genes, the haploinsufficieny of which affect the transition between single cell and filamentous growth, a feature of C. albicans associated with pathogenicity. Six of the genes identified were previously known to affect filamentous growth in C. albicans, validating the approach and suggesting that the library will prove useful for screening of genes associated with other functions.