Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 11, Issue 16, 2004

During the last two decades, the number of sequence-known proteins has increased rapidly. In contrast, the corresponding increment for structure-known proteins is much slower. The unbalanced situation has critically limited our ability to understand the molecular mechanism of proteins and conduct structurebased drug design by timely using the updated information of newly found sequences. Therefore, it is highly desired to Read More

Tremendous progress in DNA sequencing has yielded the genomes of a host of important organisms. The utilisation of these resources requires understanding of the function of each gene. Standard methods of functional assignment involve sequence alignment to a gene of known function; however such methods often fail to find any significant matches. Here we discuss a number of recent alternative methods that may be Read More

DNA microarrays are devices capable of detecting the identity and abundance of numerous DNA or RNA segments in samples. They are used for analyzing gene expressions, identifying genetic markers and detecting mutations on a genomic scale. The fundamental chemical mechanism of DNA microarrays is the hybridization between probes and targets due to the hydrogen bonds of nucleotide base pairing. Since the cross Read More

P-selectin (CD62P) is a member of the selectin family of cell adhesion molecules. It is expressed on stimulated endothelial cells and activated platelets and mediates leukocyte rolling on stimulated endothelial cells and heterotypic aggregation of activated platelets onto leukocytes. It also mediates heterotypic aggregation of activated platelets to cancer cells and adhesion of cancer cells to stimulated endothelial cells. Usin Read More

Iron is essential for all human cells as well as neoplastic cells and invading microbes. Natural and synthetic iron chelators could affect biological processes involving iron and other metal ions in health and disease states. Iron overload is the most common metal toxicity condition worldwide. There are currently two iron chelating drugs, which are mostly used for the treatment of thalassaemia and other conditions of transfusi Read More

The term protein glycation summarizes non-enzymatic reactions between amino groups of proteins and sugars or sugar degradation products, leading to early glycation products (intact sugar attached) and advanced glycation end-products (AGEs). Protein glycation is involved in the progression of several diseases, such as diabetes, uremia, and atherosclerosis. However, qualitative and quantitative analysis of in vitro Read More

A number of studies have demonstrated that malignant transformation is associated with an increase in glycolytic flux and in anaerobic and aerobic cellular lactate excretion. Using quantitative bioluminescence imaging in various primary carcinomas in patients (uterine cervix, head and neck, colorectal region) at first diagnosis of the disease, we showed that lactate concentrations in tumors in vivo could be relatively low or extr Read More

TNF is a major proinflammatory cytokine, which exerts its effects through two different receptors known as TNF-R1 and TNF-R2. Whereas TNF-R1 induced signaling pathways have been very well characterized during the past years, TNF-R2 has been much less well studied. Nevertheless, the function of TNF-R2 should not be underestimated, the more because this receptor shows a much more restricted but inducible expressi Read More

The development of bacterial resistance is a significant problem in the treatment of infection, and the importance of research directed toward the discovery of novel agents to treat infections cannot be underestimated. In the past, discovery programs have focused on modification of natural products or existing classes of marketed antibacterial agents. A significant period of time lapsed between the introduction of the nalidixi Read More