Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 19, Issue 30, 2013

Normal cell cycle progression is controlled by the sequential action of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs), the activity of which depends on their binding to regulatory partners (cyclins). Deregulation of cell cycle is one of the first steps that transform normal cells into tumor cells. Indeed, most cancer cells bear mutations in members of the pathways that control the CDK activity. For this reason, this kinase family is a crucial targ Read More

Lung cancer is the leading cause of mortality world-wide. Non Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) is a particularly aggressive cancer, the optimum management of which is still being determined. In the next years modest survival improvement can be expected by chemotherapy. Advances in understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of lung cancer have led to the identification of several specific targets for therapeutic age Read More

Drug “repurposing” is the process of finding new therapeutic indications for existing drugs, and can be considered as a more efficient and realistic strategy for the design of therapies against rare diseases than the current efforts to develop targeted-drugs. In this review, we explore the difficulties related to the identification and development of tailored therapies for individual patients with sarcomas, which are relatively r Read More

Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDSs) are clonal hematopoietic stem cell disorders characterized by ineffective hematopoiesis that often develop into acute myeloid leukemia (AML). MDSs are predominant in the elderly with an incidence of 20/100000 at 70 years of age. To date, the only curative treatment is allogeneic stem cell transplantation; however, a majority of patients are not eligible for this therapy. Azacitidine (AZA), a hy Read More

The Culture-Repopulating Ability (CRA) assays is a method to measure in vitro the bone marrow-repopulating potential of haematopoietic cells. The method was developed in our laboratory in the course of studies based on the use of growth factorsupplemented liquid cultures to study haematopoietic stem/progenitor cell resistance to, and selection at, low oxygen tensions in the incubation atmosphere. These studies le Read More

Plants produce many low molecular mass natural compounds endowed with biological activity. Among them, resveratrol (3,5,4’-trihydroxystilbene) has been demonstrated to be able to affect a plethora of pivotal cellular molecular processes, including transduction pathways and gene expression. These activities result, in turn, in several different cell phenotypes. Particularly, frequent effects of resveratrol treatment app Read More

Inorganic phosphate (Pi) is an essential nutrient to living organisms. It plays a key role in diverse biological processes, including osteoblast differentiation and skeletal mineralization. Maintenance of proper Pi homeostasis is a critical event, as any deviation from that state can lead to several acute and chronic disease states and influence the ageing process and lifespan. Serum Pi level is maintained within a narrow ra Read More

Over the past few years, the SNAP-tag technology has become a methodology with great potential in a variety of applications, e.g. the (specific) visualization of individual proteins and studies of protein interaction in living cells. Furthermore, the tag can be used for immunopurification and detection of recombinant proteins or site-specific coupling of recombinant proteins to surfaces. Next to the in vitro applications, it also e Read More

The SNAP-tag labeling technology provides a simple, robust, and versatile approach to the imaging of fusion proteins for a wide range of experimental applications. Owing to the specific and covalent nature of the labeling reaction, SNAP-tag is well suited for the analysis and quantification of fused target protein using fluorescence microscopy techniques. In this report, we present our most recent findings on t Read More

Display technologies are powerful tools that are widely used for selecting protein binders against different targets by mimicking natural selection. Such in vitro display methods have been pivotal in the isolation and evolution of antibodies with affinities greater than those produced by the natural immune response. Here we describe SNAP display, which covalently links genotype with phenotype by the action of the SNAP-ta Read More

Although current cancer treatment strategies are highly aggressive, they are often not effective enough to destroy the collectivity of malignant cells. The residual tumor cells that survived the first-line treatment may continue to proliferate or even metastasize. Therefore, the development of novel more effective strategies to specifically eliminate also single cancer cells is urgently needed. In this respect, the development of a Read More

In the past two decades, immense advances have been achieved in the engineering, production and purifying of recombinant proteins. These proteins are being widely utilized in many fields of biology, biotechnology and medicine, including diagnostic and therapeutic applications. These applications often require the modification or conjugation of these proteins with other molecules. Researchers are spending many effort Read More

SNAP-tag technology has been an important tool for protein study for more than a decade and in the meanwhile has found a number of applications beyond the field of molecular biology and protein purification. Based on covalent interaction of SNAP-tag, 20 kDA mutant of DNA repair protein and benzylguanine, it enables irreversible and controllable protein modification. In this mini review, recent developments in the Read More

Biosensors are used for a variety of applications in medicine and biology. A critical step during the development of such devices is the coordination of biological and technical requirements. The design of the device, as well as of the sample chamber and its functionalized surface is of great importance. Depending on the surface, the method of coupling of the desired receptor has to be adapted to guarantee functionality and Read More

Galectins,β-galactoside binding proteins, function in several physiological and pathological processes. The further evaluation of these processes as well as possible applications of galectins in diagnosis and therapy has raised high scientific interest. Therefore, easy and reliable test systems are necessary. Here we present the simple and cost-efficient production of recombinant human galectins as fusion proteins with SNAP-tag a Read More