Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 17, Issue 1, 2010

Ras GTPases are membrane-anchored molecular switches that mediate signaling pathways controlling a variety of cellular processes, including cell division and development. Despite their prominent role in many forms of cancer, little is known about the structure of the membrane bound protein or the mechanism and thermodynamics of membrane insertion. The modulation of membrane binding by the catalytic domain is anothe Read More

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), a member of the carbon family, are the one-dimensional analogues of zero-dimensional fullerene molecules with unique structural and electronic properties. Since the discovery of SWNTs, they have been extensively studied for biomedical applications. In biological media SWNTs have unique near-infrared intrinsic fluorescence, inherent Raman spectroscopy and photoacoust Read More

Molecular recognition and ligand binding involving proteins underlie the most important life processes within the cell, such as substrate transport, catalysis, signal transmission, receptor trafficking, gene regulation, switching on and off of biochemical pathways. Despite recent successes in predicting the structures of many protein-substrate complexes, the dynamic aspects of binding have been largely neglected by computa Read More

Bacterial infections represent a major health problem, especially in third world countries. In endemic regions, large populations of people are greatly affected, but the medical care is very limited. In this review, the neglected diseases buruli ulcer and trachoma are elucidated. Buruli ulcer is caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans which produces an outstanding immunosuppressive toxin mycolactone that induces an ulcerative, n Read More

Nitric oxide is becoming an increasingly important signalling molecule implicated in a growing number of physiological and pathophysiological processes. Moreover, with the recent advances in nitric oxide biochemistry, many well known drugs have been shown to act totally or partially by modulating NO metabolism with varying therapeutic results. The classic organic nitrates have been shown to exhibit beneficial therapeu Read More

To date more than 4000 compounds are recognized to belong to the class of flavonoids. These natural phenolic drugs are poorly soluble in water and are rapidly degraded and metabolized in the human body, but nevertheless are very promising for their potential contribution to the prevention and therapy of major chronic diseases, including cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. In recent years a number Read More