Protein and Peptide Letters - Volume 30, Issue 11, 2023

Gap junction (GJ) is a special cell membrane structure composed of connexin. Connexin is widely distributed and expressed in all tissues except differentiated skeletal muscle, red blood cells, and mature sperm cells, which is related to the occurrence of many genetic diseases due to its mutation. Its function of regulating immune response, cell proliferation, migration, apoptosis, and carcinogenesis makes it a therapeutic Read More

Alzheimer's disease, a neurodegenerative disease, is a progressive and irreversible disease that has become a global challenge due to its increasing prevalence and absence of available potential therapies. Protein misfolding and aggregation are known to be the root of several protein neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease. Protein aggregation is a phenomenon where misfolded proteins accumulate Read More

This review describes the specific features of families of Conus venom peptides (conotoxins or conopeptides) that represent twelve pharmacological classes. Members of these conopeptide families are targeted to voltage-gated ion channels, such as calcium, sodium, and potassium channels. The conopeptides covered in this work include omega-conotoxins and contryphans with calcium channels as target Read More

Background: Increasingly convincing evidence has revealed that circular RNAs (circRNAs) are critical regulatory components of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) genesis. However, the expression of circRNAs in HCC and the relevance of circRNAs to HCC progression remain largely unexplained.Methods: qRT-PCR or western blotting was utilized to confirm circ_0001687, miR-140-3p, and Forkhead Box q1 (FOXQ1) leve Read More

Background: UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) play a crucial role in maintaining endobiotic homeostasis and metabolizing xenobiotic compounds, particularly clinical drugs. However, the detailed catalytic mechanism of UGTs has not been fully elucidated due to the limited availability of reliable protein structures. Determining the catalytic domain of human UGTs has proven to be a significant challenge, prim Read More

Introduction: The anti-angiogenic agent vascular endothelial growth factor 165b (VEGF165b) mutant (mVEGF165b), which was developed by our laboratory, has superior antitumor activity to that of native VEGF165b; however, its mechanism of action and druggability need further exploration.Methods: Using the commercial anti-angiogenic drug bevacizumab as a positive control, the mechanism and developability o Read More

Background: LinB, as a Haloalkane dehalogenase, has good catalytic activity for many highly toxic and recalcitrant compounds, and can realize the elimination of chemical weapons HD in a green non-toxic mode.Objectives: In order to display Haloalkane dehalogenase LinB on the surface of Bacillus subtilis spore.Methods: We have constituted the B. subtilis spore surface display system of halogenated alkanes dehalogenase Li Read More

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is a malignant tumor with seriously poor outcomes. Studies have shown that microRNAs (miRNAs) play an omnifarious regulatory effect in GC. However, the role of miR-3650 in the progression of GC is not well known.Methods: In this study, miR-3650 expression and its clinical significance were determined using clinical specimens. The biological functions of miR-3650 were determined i Read More