Protein and Peptide Letters - Volume 27, Issue 8, 2020

Supramolecular self-assembled functional materials comprised of cyclic dipeptide building blocks have excellent prospects for biotechnology applications due to their exceptional structural rigidity, morphological flexibility, ease of preparation and modification. Although the pharmacological uses of many natural cyclic dipeptides have been studied in detail, relatively little is reported on the engineering of thes Read More

Gene-based therapy largely relies on the vector type that allows a selective and efficient transfection into the target cells with maximum efficacy and minimal toxicity. Although, genes delivered utilizing modified viruses transfect efficiently and precisely, these vectors can cause severe immunological responses and are potentially carcinogenic. A promising method of overcoming this limitation is the use of non-viral vect Read More

Background: Tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), is one of the oldest known and most dangerous diseases. Although the spread of TB was controlled in the early 20th century using antibiotics and vaccines, TB has again become a threat because of increased drug resistance. There is still a lack of effective treatment regimens for a person who is already infected with multidrug-resistant Mtb (MDR-M Read More

Background: Cutaneous and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis are parasitic diseases characterized by skin manifestations. In Brazil, Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis is one of the etiological agents of cutaneous leishmaniasis. The therapeutic arsenal routinely employed to treat infected patients is unsatisfactory, especially for pentavalent antimonials, as they are often highly toxic, poorly tolerated and of variable effective Read More

Background: Under certain circumstances, the path for protein folding deviates and attains an alternative path forming misfolded states, which are the key precursors for protein aggregation. Protein aggregation is associated with variety of diseases and leads to the cytotoxicity. These protein aggregate related diseases have been untreated so far. However, extensive attempts have been applied to develop anti-aggregating ag Read More

Background: The semi-synthetic acetoxycoumarins are known to acetylate proteins using novel enzymatic Calreticulin Transacetylase (CRTAase) system in cells. However, the nonenzymatic protein acetylation by polyphenolic acetates is not known. Objective: To investigate the ability of 7-acetoxy-4-methyl coumarin (7-AMC) to acetylate proteins non-enzymatically in the test tube. Methods: We incubated 7-AMC with BSA an Read More

Background: Peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase (PPIases) enzyme plays a vital role in protein folding. It catalyses the cis-trans isomerisation of peptide bonds, an essential step for newly synthesized protein to acquire its correct functional conformation in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Objective: The present study showed the biochemical and molecular characterisation of cyclophilins (PpiB), a type of peptidyl-prolyl isom Read More

Background: Antimicrobial and antifungal activities of Thrombocidin-1 (TC-1) is shown previously, however, the anti-cancerous feature of this peptide is still uncovered. Objective: The objective is to evaluate anti-cancerous feature of recombinant TC-1. Methods: In this study, based on the significant similarity of rTC-1 and IL-8 in case of coding sequence, tertiary structure, and also docking and molecular dynamic simulation Read More

Background: Despite the fact that lithium is not a biologically essential metallic element, its pharmacological properties are well known and human exposure to lithium is increasingly possible because of its used in aerospace industry and in batteries. Objective: Lithium-protein interactions are therefore interesting and the surveys of the structures of lithium-protein complexes is described in this paper. Methods: A high quality n Read More

Background: Non-enzymatic protein glycation is involved in structure and stability changes that impair protein functionality, resulting in several human diseases, such as diabetes and amyloidotic neuropathies (Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and Andrade’s syndrome). Glyoxal, an endogenous reactive oxoaldehyde, increases in diabetes and reacts with several proteins to form advanced glycation end products thro Read More

Background: It has been previously found that PrP23-98, which contains four highly conserved octarepeats (residues 60-91) and one partial repeat (residues 92-96), polymerizes into amyloid-like and proteinase K-resistant spherical aggregates in the presence of NADPH plus copper ions. Objective: We aimed to determine the requirements for the formation of these aggregates. Methods: In this study, we performed an ag Read More

Background: Silver Nanoparticles (AgNPs) were found to modulate the fibrillation of Bovine -Lactoglobulin (BLG). Objective: To gain an insight regarding the mechanism of BLG aggregation modulation by AgNPs at molecular level, studies on the interactions between BLG and AgNPs were carried out. Methods: Protein-ligand interactions were studied based on Trp fluorescence quenching (at four different temperatures), sy Read More

Background: Ionic complementary peptide EAK-16 has been studies for anticancer drug delivery application. This is a 16 residues, short sequence peptide has ability to trosnform into micro/nanoparticle via self-assembly. However, it is still not clear that how this can bind with cell membrane to induce membrane leakage or delivering their cargo inside cell membrane. Objective: The main objective of this work was to understand Read More