Abstract: Described are novel variants of APRIL that modulate signaling via receptor-specific agonist activity, and nucleic acids encoding these variant proteins. Further described is the use of these novel proteins in the treatment of APRIL-associated disorders, in particular, pathologies of the immune system and oncological disorders.

Abstract: The invention relates to a writable magnetic element comprising a stack of layers presenting a write magnetic layer, wherein the stack has a central layer of at least one magnetic material presenting a direction of magnetization that is parallel or perpendicular to the plane of the central layer, said central layer being sandwiched between first and second outer layers of non-magnetic materials, the first outer layer comprising a first non-magnetic material and the second outer layer comprising a second non-magnetic material that is different from the first non-magnetic material, at least the second non-magnetic material being electrically conductive, wherein it includes a device for causing current to flow through the second outer layer and the central layer in a current flow direction parallel to the plane of the central layer, and a device for applying a magnetic field having a component along a magnetic field direction that is either parallel or perpendicular to the plane of the central layer and the curr

Abstract: The invention relates to a writable magnetic element comprising a stack of layers presenting a write magnetic layer, wherein the stack has a central layer of at least one magnetic material presenting magnetization having a magnetization direction that is parallel to the plane of the central layer, which layer is sandwiched between first and second outer layers of non-magnetic materials, the first outer layer comprising a first non-magnetic material and the second outer layer comprising a second non-magnetic material that is different from the first non-magnetic material, at least the second non-magnetic material being electrically conductive, and wherein it includes a device to cause a write current to pass through the second outer layer and the central layer in a current flow direction parallel to the plane of the central layer at an angle ? lying in the range 90°±60°, in particular 90°±30°, and more particularly 90°±15° relative to said magnetization direction in order to generate an effective magnetic fiel

Abstract: The invention relates to a writable magnetic element comprising a stack of layers presenting a write magnetic layer, wherein the stack has a central layer of at least one magnetic material presenting a direction of magnetization that is perpendicular to the plane of the central layer, said central layer being sandwiched between first and second outer layers of non-magnetic materials, the first outer layer comprising a first non-magnetic material and the second outer layer comprising a second non-magnetic material that is different from the first non-magnetic material, at least the second non-magnetic material being electrically conductive, and wherein it includes a device for causing current to flow through the second outer layer in a current flow direction parallel to the plane of the central layer, and a device for applying a magnetic field along a magnetic field direction that is perpendicular to the plane of the central layer.

Abstract: The invention is based on observing that LIF is capable of activating the self-renewal of tumor stem cells in cancer, in particular gliomas, which indicates that the inhibition of LIF, and generally of IL-6 type cytokines, can be used in therapeutic compositions for the treatment of diseases associated with unwanted proliferation. The invention also relates to a method for the identification of compounds capable of blocking/inhibiting the proliferation of stem cells, and to an in vitro method for the diagnosis of diseases associated with unwanted cell proliferation in a subject or for determining the predisposition of a subject to suffer said disease associated with unwanted cell proliferation, or for prognosis of average life expectancy of subjects suffering from said tumors.

Abstract: The present invention relates to novel cytokines, which have a modified selectivity/specificity for their cognate receptors. In particular, the invention relates to a variant TRAIL protein, which has superior selectivity for the death receptor 4 (TRAIL-RI) over the death receptor 5 (TRAIL-R2). In addition, the invention relates to a variant TRAIL protein which exhibits superior selectivity for the death receptor 4 (TRAIL-R1) over the decoy receptors DcR1 (TRAIL-R3) and DcR2 (TRAIL-R4).

Abstract: Method for producing adenovirus vectors for gene therapy and auxiliary vectors used therefor. The method is based on the multiplication of gutless adenoviruses that lack adenovirus-coding sequences by cotransfecting them with an auxiliary or helper adenovirus that has an attB sequence of the &phis;C31 bacteriophage inserted between the adenovirus packaging signal and the ITR closest to it and/or utilizing the delay arising at the time of packaging the helper adenovirus with respect to that of the gutless adenovirus owing to the presence of the atttB sequence in order to recover the gutless adenovirus from the culture before the helper adenovirus completes its viral cycle. This gives rise to high gutless adenovirus titres that are essentially free from helper adenovirus, thereby allowing them to be used in gene therapy, minimizing the likelihood of the appearance of a cellular immune response on the part of the treated individual against cells transduced by the adenovirus vector produced.