Protein and Peptide Letters - Volume 21, Issue 10, 2014

Protein and Peptide Letters has published many papers dealing with computational studies of proteins and peptides. We have recently established a new editorial policy that we will only consider manuscripts that feature a combination of computational work and experimental studies that show verification of the predictions made from computational work. For example, if bioinformatics studies are used to predict that a new prot Read More

Glycopeptides, peptides containing sugar β-amino acids, have significant impact on medicinal chemistry research and pharmaceutical industr. In 1956, the discovery of one classic glycopeptide, vancomycin, broke the dawn of a new age for antibacterial research. Employing glycopeptides for the therapeutic purposes used to be regarded as proposals. Owing largely to the recent improvements in separation practices, characte Read More

Peptide-N4-(N-acetyl-α-glucosaminyl) asparagine amidases (commonly known as PNGases) have been described in a wide variety of prokaryotic hosts and exist as an integral part of the lysosomal refolding machinery in all higher organisms. Since the discovery of this ubiquitous biological function of PNGases 15 years ago, research on PNGases has found growing attention within and outside of the glycobiology research co Read More

Glycoproteins are becoming increasingly relevant in therapeutics, including tissue plasminogen activator for the treatment of myocardial infarction and strokes, erythropoietin for anemia and various monoclonal antibody–based treatments for cancer. Protein N- and O-glycosylation is perhaps the most crucial and immensely complex posttranslational modification that proteins undergo, and its characterization presents a major Read More

A simple method for the synthesis of differently protected cystathionines is described. Reaction of γ- bromohomoalanine with cysteine derivatives in an ethyl acetate/water two-phase system, which contains TBAHS and NaHCO3, led to the desired protected cystathionines in very high to excellent yields. Apart from the high yields, the mild conditions and the ease of conducting the reactions are also attractive features for this procedure.

Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reaction was applied in the syntheses of neoglycopeptides. This work utilizes new type of glycosyl aryl boronic acid and readily accessible iodo amino acids/iodopeptides. Both carbohydrate and peptide moieties are unprotected and the final product could be isolated directly. The neoglyco amino acid and neoglycopeptide products feature an O-glycosyl biaryl linker between the carbohydrate and peptide moieties.

A novel and convenient strategy for iodine labeled glycopeptide molecular probe and purification was developed. The fluorine rich bi-functional coupling agent, 4-tris(2-perfluorohexylethyl)stannylbenzoate succinimidyl ester, was successfully synthesized via 5 steps starting from the fluorous Grignard reagent. It was purified by a simple and fast isolation using perfluorinated hexanes (FC-72). The “cold” iodine labeled yield for t Read More

In 2008 cancer was identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of four threats to human health and development. Since the early published reports of the first chemotherapeutic, mustine, in 1946, the anti-cancer drug and development industry has grown into a multi-billion dollar business enterprise. Worldwide, the rates of new cancer cases and deaths has been steadily increasing each year, with the estima Read More

The asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGPR) is a high-capacity C-type lectin receptor mainly expressed on mammalian hepatic cells. The physiological function of ASGPR has not been completely clarified and is thought to be specific binding and internalization of galactose (Gal) or N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc)-terminating glycoproteins by hepatocytes. The human ASGPR is comprised of two homologous polypeptid Read More

Glycopeptides with potent antibiotic activity are vital for the treatment of severe infections that caused by Gram-positive bacteria, especially methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Recently, the glycopeptide-resistant Grampositive bacteria present a serious challenge to public health after more than decades of clinical use. Additionally, the antibacterial activity and side effect become an increasing crisis and should ha Read More

Misfolded protein amyloid-beta protein (Aβ) and tau protein are two high hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), representing significant targets in treating AD. Researches on mechanisms of the two proteins inducing neuron dysfunctions provide therapeutic strategies of AD, including inhibition of Aβ production and aggregation, acceleration of Aβ clearance as well as reduction of tau hyperphosphorylation. Proteoglycans (PGs) c Read More

Colonization of the stomach by Helicobacter pylori can result in such gastrointestinal illnesses as chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer and gastric cancer. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are expressed in the stomach and play a key role in the innate immune responses to H. pylori in humans. During H. pylori infections, AMP expression mediated by NOD-1, NF-kB and/or ERK, functions to eradicate the bacteria, thereby preventing the gas Read More

Abstract: Elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) have been widely used to promote the development of a variety of smart biomaterials. Transition temperature is a key attribute of ELPs central to ELPs researches. Therefore, it is essential to establish predictive models of transition temperature that are both computationally efficient and reliable by employing simple parameters. Back propagation neural network (BPNN), a power Read More

Protein derived from the oyster (Saccostrea cucullata) was hydrolyzed using protease from Bacillus cereus SU12 for isolation of antioxidant peptides. The oyster hydrolysate exhibited a strong antioxidant potential in DPPH (85.7±0.37%) followed by Hydrogen peroxide radical scavenging activity (81.6±0.3%), Hydroxyl radical-scavenging activity (79.32±0.6%), Reducing power assay (2.63±0.2 OD at 700nm). Due to the hig Read More