Protein and Peptide Letters - Volume 20, Issue 12, 2013

Toxoplasma gondii is ubiquitous obligate intracellular parasite and is one of the most important pathogen for humans and animals. In humans, T. gondii has two life forms: tachyzoites and bradyzoites. Tachyzoites form of T. gondii can cause acute infection, and it is called toxoplasmosis. The development of latent bradyzoites from rapidly growing tachyzoites has been linked to cellular and environmental stresses which are as Read More

L-asparaginases (E.C.3.5.1.1, L- ASNases) have been widely used in clinical practice as chemotherapeutic drugs of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). In order to evaluate the structural and functional role of selected residues in ASNases we report the screening of a library of L-ASNase mutants aiming to find detrimental mutations that significantly affect catalysis and substrate specificity. The library of mutants was creat Read More

Short peptides are important biopharmaceuticals as agonistic or antagonistic ligands, aggregation inhibitors, and vaccines, as well as in many other applications. They behave differently from globular proteins in solution. Many short peptides are unstructured and tend to aggregate and undergo structural transition in response to changes in solvent environment, including pH, temperature, ionic strength, presence of organic solve Read More

Recombinant technology has ushered in a new era for the pharmaceutical industry. Protein therapeutics, including plasma-derived products and antibodies obtained from the serum of infected patients, have been successfully adopted and utilized to treat various indications. The development of recombinant technology and the subsequent improvement in expression, purification, and formulation technologies have enabled the Read More

The identification of novel molecular targets has paved the way for new treatment options in cancer patients. A number of agents targeting molecules that are crucial both for the tumor and its microenvironment have already been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for clinical use. The monoclonal antibodies and the small molecule kinase inhibitors constitute two major classes of targeted therapeutic ag Read More

UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UDP) catalyzes a broad spectrum of endobiotic and xenobiotics. It is the isoform of the UGT1 family, which are made from the complex gene locus by an alternative combination of one of the unique first exons with the commonly used exons. UDP is believed to be involved in cellular activity and signaling process associated with detoxification. In this study, rats were orally administered with 18β-glyc Read More

In recent years, therapeutic proteins have become an important growing class of drugs in the pharmaceutics industry. The development of recombinant DNA technology has caused to appreciation of therapeutic value of many proteins and peptides in medicine. Currently, approximately 100 therapeutic proteins obtained approval from Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and they are widely used in the treatment of vario Read More

Over the past 20 years the demand for recombinant proteins has increased significantly. Mammalian cell lines have been extensively used to produce recombinant proteins. This expression system offers several advantages over microbial systems, mammalian cells have the cellular machinery to promote the secretion of the recombinant product and the posttranslational modifications, like glycosylation that is presen Read More

Homocysteine (Hcys) is a non-essential amino acid associated with a range of diseased and abnormal metabolic conditions. Hcys concentration in saliva is routinely determined by enzyme assays, which are broadly specific, but can be expensive and suffer from cross-reactivity. Total Hcys (tHcys) concentrations in eight healthy adults were determined to establish the inter-day variation during resting, normal and intensive p Read More